


this hurricane's chasing us all underground

by Otpismyoxygen



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Hinata has silver eyes, Kita Yumie, M/M, as usual sap is my brand, blood because vampire, brooding atsumu, tw: supernatural drug use, vampire hinata
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:15:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24626860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Otpismyoxygen/pseuds/Otpismyoxygen
Summary: "My soulmate is a stubborn man. I haven't known him for long, so I still don't know what redeeming qualities he has other than his devastatingly handsome face. But he was well-respected by his peers. And smart. And vicious. And so good at combat. And have I mentioned that he's handsome? Because he's really handsome." Shouyo paused. "The problem is, he doesn't know that he's my soulmate, and that I'm his."
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Miya Atsumu
Comments: 5
Kudos: 172





	this hurricane's chasing us all underground

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer:  
> \- This fic is inspired by Kresley Cole's Dreams of A Dark Warrior (surprise, surprise im a romance novel fan)  
> \- The title is taken from 30 Seconds to Mars's Hurricane
> 
> I almost didn't post this fic because, eh, but we deserve some sexy (not really) VAMPIRE ATSUHINA, and combined it with soulmate? dayum.  
> (not beta-ed consider yourself warned. maybe I'll check all the grammar again later but for now im tired)  
> (also dont ask why kakeru is here bcs i dont even know)

Atsumu did his ritual before he went for his mission for the night.

Every single night, he never missed doing it, looking at the picture of his family on his desk. The picture of his step-brother, his step-grandma, his twin brother, and himself, smiling to the camera. Looking at their faces reminded him of the reason why he was doing this very thing he had been doing for the past _twenty years_ in the first place.

As Atsumu’s palms turned into fists, he remembered the day the picture was taken like it was yesterday.

It was taken on his and Osamu’s twenty fifth birthday. Or Atsumu now liked to say as the day he died. The day when his family was massacred by a vampire. Except him. Atsumu was the last one the ruthless vampire tried to kill. The vampire only got to drink a bit of his blood before the help came for him.

A reinforcement that came too late.

Atsumu snapped his head out of his memory when he heard a knock on his office door. He took one last glance of his family picture before he murmured in a low voice, “Come in.”

Just as he was expected, his hunting partner for the night was the one who interrupted him.

“Who’s our target for tonight?” Atsumu said as he put his black leather jacket on, hiding a set of weapon he strapped on his hips; two guns, twin blades, and a shackle—a special kind of shackle that wouldn’t let its binding broken by vampires, since it was laced by silver liquid or maybe some other things that Atsumu didn’t really care to know. Atsumu wouldn’t know because it was the Institute’s job for doing the details for the hunters.

Atsumu’s job was merely hunting the vampires.

“Hinata Shouyo. A hundred and forty years old. Young but strong, they said,” Koutaro, Atsumu’s fellow vampire hunter, answered him. The guy looked excited as tonight was his third hunt, meaning his probation period would end by the end of tonight’s mission.

Atsumu sighed. Truthfully, he disliked to be partnered with newbies. But the Institute apparently thought that Atsumu worked the best with them, saying that Atsumu was their best hunter, so he could teach them while still doing great at the same time. Not many hunters could multitask like him, so it seemed.

And there was also the fact that he was a half-vampire.

His massive strength, inhuman speed, and ability to detect vampires made him somehow on par with the enemies, without too much effort like other hunters.

But still, it didn’t mean Atsumu was happy to get dumped along with newbies every month.

“I also heard this vampire has been on the Wanted List for more than a month, before I even joined?” Koutaro crossed his arms on his chest, his massive build didn’t match his innocent look sometimes. “Is it true?”

Atsumu chuckled. Did this newbie doubt Atsumu’s ability? “That’s because I haven’t been assigned to catch him all this time. If Boss chose me from the start to deal with him, he’d be finished on the first try.”

“Ooooo…” Koutaro nodded. He might be one of the most skillful newbies Atsumu had ever worked with, but his excitement often drained Atsumu’s energy. Atsumu’s age since he stopped aging was 25, although now his real age was 45. So Koutaro was much younger than him. But the 26 years old Koutaro considered Atsumu as someone younger than him. So despite being a newbie, Koutaro treated him as a brat.

“Are you ready to go out now or you still have other basic questions for me?” Atsumu asked sarcastically, taking the car key from the keys cabinet.

Koutaro didn’t answer and just walked out of the room. Atsumu almost screamed in frustration but restrained himself. Breathe in, breathe out. Atsumu tried to make a self-pep talk that tonight was his last night with the troublesome newbie since he usually only supervised newbies for their first three missions.

_Just catch this vampire, bring him to the Institute, go back to my room, and sleep._

Atsumu exhaled a loud breath and stormed out of his office straight into the busy hallway of the Institute. The night was young, and the Institute only active when the night came, so this wasn’t really a strange occurrence for Atsumu to see.

As he followed Koutaro toward the basement of the building, Atsumu waved to some of his hunter colleagues, researchers, and guards. It was probably only his imagination, but he felt like they gave him a look that practically said _Bet the chief also wouldn't be able to catch that vampire_. Which only made Atsumu furrowing his brows in confusion.

Seriously, what was with this vampire they were going to ambush? What was his name again? Shouto? Shouyo? Was he really that difficult to be taken down?

Well, not anymore. Atsumu would stomped him to ground in a matter of second.

_Don't go out tonight._

Osamu's warning kept ringing in his ears as Shouyo made his way to the bar. Glancing around the room—not because of his friend's warning, but because he wanted to look for a perfect fresh meal—Shouyo noted that his usual club didn't look strange at all tonight.

Usually, when Hunters were around, Shouyo could feel the difference from the air in the room. Weird, Shouyo thought. But he shrugged it off. Maybe the Hunters still hadn't arrived yet.

Sitting on the bar stool, Shouyo smiled at his favourite bartender in town, Kenma. He was also Shouyo's favourite human, which was saying a lot, since Shouyo didn't really like any mortals.

Osamu's warning to not go out tonight because he heard that the Hunters were out to look for him took a back seat in Shouyo's mind, and he opted out to enjoy the night. After all, Shouyo never really cared about Hunters.

"Hi, Shouyo, the usual?" Kenma gave him a little smile.

Shouyo sported a fake insulted look. "I can't believe after all this time you still have to ask me, Kenma."

The bartender shook his head and took some bottles. "Just wanted to make sure. Coming right up."

"Kenma," Shouyo reached out his hand, trying to stop the mortal from making his drink. "You see something strange today?"

Kenma’s face remained stoic. "You mean to ask me if I saw those bounties?"

The mortals in town didn't know that those "bounties" who always looked like tugs, lurking around town, were actually vampire hunters. They had mistaken big time, but it wasn't like they needed to know about the truth either.

If mortals knew that those guys actually worked to terminate vampires, they would go nuts over the fact that their favourite mythical creature was actually real.

"Are they around tonight?" Shouyo tried to look nonchalant. "Not that I have debt or anything, but..."

Kenma snickered. "Nah, I haven't seen them. But who knows? Anyway, I don't care whether you had debt or not as long as you pay the drink."

Now Shouyo was the one who smiled. Shouyo would pay, alright. But not for his whiskey. The whiskey was only a pretense. He didn't drink other than warm, thick liquid. It had been so long since the last time he fed. Two weeks maybe?

"Just get me the drink, Kenma," Shouyo finally waved the bartender off.

Waiting for Kenma to be out of sight making his drink, Shouyo once again looked around the room and cursed under his breath. It looked like he was the only vampire who was out tonight. His fellow immortals probably chose to stay inside the safety of their mansion when they heard that Hunters were on patrol tonight.

_Coward._

Right then, Shouyo's eyes landed on one particular female in the middle of the dance floor, looking like a delicious meal. Shouyo smiled. He had found his dinner for the night.

When Atsumu arrived at the scene, a club so loud that it made Atsumu's skin tingled with dread even when he hadn't entered it yet, he could immediately sense a vampire was inside the building. Sometimes, his ability to sense vampires came in handy.

Tightening his leather jacket, Atsumu jerked his head toward the front door to signal Koutaro to follow him inside. As soon as he entered, the loud music was not only hurt his ears, but also made his chest pound hard. 

Atsumu clicked his tongue. He hated to hunt in this kind of place the most. Sensory overload. Too many people, too many scents, too many voices and sounds. A mere human had zero chance finding a vampire here, but he wasn't an ordinary human. Atsumu just had to heighten his senses to find out if there were immortals here.

"You got something, Chief?" Koutaro stood beside him. His hands were inside his pocket.

Atsumu shook his head. "Let's go around."

They decided to separate. Atsumu chose to look around the first floor while Koutaro would check the second floor and the back door.

As Atsumu walked around the club, squeezing himself out from the sea of people, he regretted choosing the first floor. He began to think that he should've traded his position with Koutaro when he stopped in his track.

Smirking, Atsumu couldn't believe his luck tonight. He found the vampire only five minutes after he arrived here.

Atsumu sauntered around the dance floor area to get a better look on his target. The vampire's back was on him, but Atsumu was pretty sure that this was the vampire the Institute assigned him to catch. He matched their description. A young male, average height around 170 cm, and orange hair.

As Atsumu watched the vampire dancing with a female teen—obviously his target for the night—he realized that the Institute had failed to inform him one thing about the physical traits of this vampire. That he was gorgeous as hell.

Even from behind, he looked tempting. Atsumu might be a half-vampire, but he never needed to drink blood. Yet right there and then, the urge to sink his teeth to that being’s smooth skin was so strong it shamed him.

Reminded by his intention, Atsumu reached his pocket to push the alert button that would send a notification to Koutaro to come find him. But Atsumu's eyes never left the vampire, watching his every move. Never did Atsumu saw immortals moved as swift and suave as him. Even the most ancient ones didn't move this gracefully. This young vampire, however, captivated him.

"Is that him?" Koutaro's voice snapped him out of his reverie.

Did Atsumu really just let his guard down because of a vampire? He didn't even realize Koutaro was sneaking up behind him.

"Yeah, it's him," Atsumu croaked, clearing his throat. "Don't engage him yet."

"Noted. Should I take my post?"

Atsumu nodded. "Take the back of the bar. I'm sure he's going to take her there."

Koutaro went away without another order, leaving Atsumu once again alone to gawk over the vampire.

But not for long, because now the vampire finally made a move, leaving the dance floor. Atsumu was ashamed to admit that he was relieved that this finally would be over soon, just so he could stop focusing on the vampire.

Watching him... had made Atsumu on edge. And that wasn't how this was supposed to work. Atsumu needed to be on high alert while on the mission. Not... lusting over his target.

When the vampire took his prey's hand, the female giggled delightfully and followed him, likely had no idea that her life was on the line. Then they moved toward the backdoor.

Atsumu didn't immediately follow. He lingered fifteen more seconds on his spot before he dashed out. His steps were quick, his hand was on his hip, ready to take out his blade.

Atsumu was only five meters away from the backdoor when his sensitive hearing caught a sound of strangled scream. _Shit_. Atsumu had lingered five seconds too long. Such a poor miscalculation from his side.

_What is wrong with me tonight?_

Taking out his blade at the same time he opened the backdoor, Atsumu was welcomed with a breeze of cold night air as well as a sight he dreaded the most; the vampire's fangs were latched deeply on the girl's neck.

That was usual a scene. But what made Atsumu stopped dead on his track was the fact that although his face was buried on the girl's neck, busy feasting on her, his other hand was on someone's neck—Koutaro's. The grey haired hunter must've attacked the vampire when he began biting the girl. But somehow, the vampire managed to immobilize both humans in his hold.

Forcing himself to move and focus, Atsumu snapped out of his shock and sprinted toward the vampire. Usually, feeding vampires wouldn’t have their mind anywhere else other than their prey, but this one… he was high alerted. Realizing that he got another company, the vampire looked up, and his eyes met Atsumu.

Just then, Atsumu felt like he stopped breathing. The vampire was beautiful, too beautiful. Even when the lower half of his face was covered with fresh, red blood, his silver eyes looked crazed with hunger, and some strand of his orange hair looked sticky with blood, he was still the most beautiful creature Atsumu had ever encountered.

A glint of recognition flashed in the vampire’s eyes. _What the hell was that?_ Then, Atsumu forced to pull himself together.

Atsumu raced toward them at the same time the vampire threw the girl and Koutaro away from him like trash. Atsumu lunged at him, struck out his blade right onto the vampire’s chest. But the vampire was fast, too fast. He whirled around and suddenly he was behind Atsumu, his arm was on Atsumu’s neck, ready to choke him. Not only the way he danced on the dance floor, but his fighting movement was graceful.

“You wouldn’t want to fight me, halfling,” he whispered on Atsumu’s ear.

The vampire knew that he was a half-vampire? Could it be that the look of recognition the vampire sported a while ago was because he was surprised that Atsumu was half human, half vampire?

Atsumu unsheathed another blade, managed to get off from the vampire stronghold, and turned around. He let his strength grow rampant inside of him and twisted the arm of the vampire, so now Atsumu was the one who stood behind him, wrapping one arm around his neck, caging him.

A fruity scent distracted him for a bit. The vampire didn’t smell like blood at all. He smelled like heaven.

Atsumu should’ve stabbed him right there and then, but somehow, in a fucked-up unimaginable way, Atsumu hesitated. And Atsumu _never_ ever hesitated to injure a vampire.

So why it was so hard for him to stab this one?

The vampire thrashed, and Atsumu finally moved on autopilot mode. He planted his blade into the vampire's chest and twisted it twice, to the right and left, resulting a loud shriek from the vampire. Atsumu immediately felt the vampire’s body slacked against him, and out of nowhere, nausea hit Atsumu. Dizziness started to crawl. He had to suppress the urge to vomit.

“Koutaro!” Atsumu yelled at his subordinate, but the newbie looked too injured to move fast.

While Koutaro tried his best to stand up, the vampire in Atsumu’s hands had stilled. Atsumu had stabbed him good. He should be proud of himself. Just like what he promised himself when he left the Institute, he did get the vampire in a matter of seconds only. But the feeling gnawing on his chest was nowhere near pleasant as Atsumu finally took a good look on the now pale vampire.

He only had one feeling.

_Regret._

“You did good, Atsumu.”

Atsumu blinked repeatedly. He needed to stop doing this, zoning out of nowhere without knowing that someone had come to stand or sit beside him. He turned to his side and found Rei, the president of Institute as well as Atsumu’s direct supervisor. The leader was looking at him with pride in his smile and confusion in his eyes.

“What’s wrong, son?” he said.

“Nothing.” Atsumu shook his head lightly and looked back at the examination room in front of him, separated by glass. “I thought you were out in a mission, too.”

“Finished it.” Rei placed his fake arm in Atsumu’s shoulder. The poor sixty years old man’s hand got cut by a vampire three decades ago. “You successfully captured _the_ Hinata Shouyo. Good job.”

Shouyo. Koutaro had said the name before they went out tonight, but Atsumu completely forgot about it as soon as he arrived at the club. _So the vampire’s name is Shouyo._ Such a fitting name for a beautiful… _leech_ like him.

“You don’t have any trouble capturing him?” Rei asked, his fake arm was finally down to his side.

Atsumu shrugged. “He’s nothing special. You sure that this was the same Shouyo that other Hunters failed to capture for more than a month? Because I don’t see any difference.”

A lie. Atsumu noticed like a bright day light that Shouyo was different. Other vampires were careless when they were feeding, but Shouyo was hyper aware with his surrounding. He also moved really fast and suave. The vampire also managed to choke him for a good ten seconds. Meaning, he was strong. If he wasn’t so mindless because of the feeding, he could’ve taken Atsumu out easily in the first second Atsumu was in his hold.

Rei hummed. “Maybe I should have other Hunters take another special training?”

“Forget it. Why haven’t they brought him in?” He had been waiting for the researcher to bring Shouyo in for the examination. Atsumu had brought him inside the building half an hour ago. Yet until now, they still hadn’t ready. What a slowpoke.

Rei looked at him with indecorous eyes. “You’re really out of it today, son. You didn’t hear what the examiner said fifteen minutes ago? They came in here to inform you that the exam would be done tomorrow.”

Atsumu looked flabbergasted. Had he really not hear, or notice, anything for the past thirty minutes he’d been here? “Huh? Why?”

“They had too much in their hands right now. They truly didn’t expect that you would come back tonight with that vampire.”

Atsumu scoffed. “They thought I was going to fail?"

Seriously, the rumors going around the Institute about Shouyo was really exaggerated. The vampire was strong but not _that_ strong.

“Where’s he now? In the cell?” Atsumu asked, trying to sound nonchalant. He never gave a damn about the vampires he caught. But there was something about Shouyo that made him… curious. Nothing more. It wasn’t that he cared about the young vampire. Not at all.

“He’s in research room number 37. Why? You’ll give him your personal torture? Been so long since the last time you do it.”

“Hmm,” Atsumu pretended to ponder. It was true, so he was supposed to feel excited for the opportunity, but it strangely didn’t interest him. “Maybe tomorrow.”

Maybe, after he tried to torture the vampire and saw his true nature—just like a monster—Atsumu would lose his curiosity toward him. And also of course, his fascination.

Shouyo opened his eyes and was immediately welcomed by bright white lights. He flinched at the sudden blindness he experienced and quickly realized that he had difficulties moving.

He was bound. Great.

“The hell,” he choked out, blinking rapidly so he could get used to the bright light. But before his sight returned to normal, his hearing caught his surrounding faster. Just as he suspected, he was in a room full of humans. The sound of machines and medical tools were apparent, and Shouyo visibly shuddered.

How did this happen? How could he be here?

“Subject B105 is conscious. Asking permission to proceed the procedure.”

Procedure? What kind of procedure?

Shouyo's mind raced while he still fought his way to be able to see clearly. What happened to him? He tried to dig his memory but only came up with nothing. He remembered going to Kenma's bar, after Osamu reminded him to not go out that night, and then… then he approached a teenage girl and brought him to the back alley, then...

Finally, his sight registered something other than the bright lights. He saw… people around him wearing blue… masks… His vision swam, but he could feel that his clothes were getting ripped open.

It would be a matter of time before _himself_ would be ripped open, and he really should start to think of an escape plan right now, or he would die in the hands of these freaks with blue masks.

Shouyo forced himself to calm down and tried to remember again. Okay, where did he leave off? He recalled sucking the girl's not-so-delicious blood and someone with grey hair interrupted his meal session, and then there was a loud bang from the bar door, a blond man showed up. Shouyo remembered he meet the man's eyes, and…

Oh, Gods…

“Someone get the camera, we need to record this.” Shouyo didn't hear the commotion around him. “Subject B105 has colored mark in his chest. He has a soulmate.”

_That blond man is my soulmate._

It had been approximately twelve hours since he captured Shouyo, since he planted his own knife into the disgusting creature's chest. He vividly remembered how the sound of flesh being ripped was both beautiful and horrifying to his ears. That was the first time he experienced that, and Atsumu didn't even want to start with the gnawing feeling that had been eating him this whole time. He just couldn't afford it.

Or else he would lose his mind, and he was already on the verge of it to begin with.

The silence of his office was deafening as well as comforting to his chaotic mind. He let the sound of the monitor in front of him drown him, his eyes focused on what was happening in the CCTV video.

The facility's best researchers had been called to examine the vampire Atsumu just captured. Atsumu still refused to call the subject by his name. His kind didn't deserve it, having a name like they were human beings while they were just mere blood sucking monsters. They were the lowest of low, and should've been treated accordingly.

_So why does your heart constrict when you see him finally open his eyes, huh? What is this sense of relief?_

Atsumu watched the monitor as he didn't realize the grip on his knees tightened. His fists balled and trembled in silent when he saw the physician ripped open the so-called strong vampire's clothes—black t-shirt with the words _Born to be The Ace_ on it. What the hell.

His heart hammered, not because he was nervous or scared, but he felt like he was fighting his instinct to stop the examination and destroy the room.

_I don't want them to touch him._

The sudden primal thought almost choked him. His bubbles of rage exploded and Atsumu was left wondering, _what was I thinking?_

God, he needed his doses. Being half-vampire really screwed his mind sometimes, and the only thing that could keep his sanity and unnatural ability in check was the doses that he kept on consuming for the past twenty years.

Maybe his time was near, who knew. After all, being injected with unknown strong liquid for years to press down his most primal vampire instinct for blood and killing could fuck up any beings, and Atsumu started to feel it. Or maybe it was just because he had met a certain vampire yesterday.

Atsumu really hated how his mind playing with his heart.

Atsumu shook his head and sank into his leather chair. He had to force himself to look away from the monitor because he just _couldn’t_ take it. There were nine monitors in his room, so he practically could examine the entire base, but the only thing he could focus on was the one showing that vampire. His fascination was simply not healthy.

Just why, Atsumu didn’t understand.

After what he believed that at least a minute—a considerably acceptable time to drift his eyes from the vampire, in his opinion—already passed, Atsumu started to sit upright again, leaning into his desk, as if the distance between him and the vampire couldn't be closer. It would never be enough.

Atsumu watched the rise and fall of the vampire's chest. His eyes blank, and his face expressionless, but Atsumu could tell, even from the blurry camera that the vampire was panicking. A lump formed in Atsumu's throat. He didn't like this one bit. He didn't like seeing the vampire feeling uneasy.

The next thing he knew, the examination room turned into chaos, and Atsumu immediately shot up onto his feet, almost knocking his heavy chair to the ground. His eyes immediately looked for the vampire, his initial thought was that the vampire was attacking or running away. But no, he was still there, lying on the metal table, still looking too lifeless to be able to move on his own.

So why was everyone panicking—or more like, surprised?

Then Atsumu saw it. His line of sight zeroed in the bright golden pattern on the vampire's chest. It was almost unnoticeable, given how pale his skin was. But it was there. God, it was there, glaring at Atsumu through the blurry screen. As if laughing at him.

The vampire had a soulmate.

The next time Shouyo opened his eyes, he was no longer inside the examination room, no longer under the bright light, no longer lying down.

He was sitting on the wooden chair, tied up by some kind of a rope, that weirdly yet unsurprisingly burned his skin that was exposed to the rope. Shouyo laughed silently under his breath. Of course, they used bizarre things to tie him up, Shouyo bet his fortune on silver liquid.

As much as he wanted to make fun of people who believed on vampire’s myth, about how they couldn’t stand silver or sunlight, he couldn’t. Because it wasn’t a myth. Damn, how Shouyo hope it was just a myth.

His vision was still blurry, his head pounding, and his hearing was dull.

His senses were all over the place, but he could tell. He could tell really well that he wasn’t alone in the room. There was another person—no, another being—beside him in there.

Shouyo was sure that those people with white robes were injecting him with something that made him feel so weak, but still, he could sense the immense presence from the other side of the room. Whoever this was, they were surely… pissed.

“Rise and shine, vampire.”

Shouyo flinched. The voice boomed and pierced as if this man was yelling right before his ears.

“Argh,” Shouyo hissed. He blinked his eyes as he tried hard to raise his head. It proved to drain his whole energy. “Can you not screaming?”

“Feeling bold, aren’t you? You think that you have the right to ask anything?” The voice replied.

Shouyo shuddered. This man's voice was honeyed, and so warm, despite the bite in his tone and words. When Shouyo finally could lift his head high enough so his eyes could see what was in front of him, the man—the being—was actually sitting in a similar seat like his. The different was there was no rope tying him up.

“What do you want?” Shouyo could feel his lips moved, his throat producing his voice. But he felt completely out of it. “Why am I here? I thought you guys want to cut me open.”

A laugh escaped the man’s mouth, it was terrifying, but once again, Shouyo felt weirdly warm inside while he was sure his body should’ve been freezing now, judging from how weak he was.

“Oh, you’ll be cut open, don’t worry. But it needs to wait.”

His swimming vision started to get back to normal. He could almost make out the appearance of this man in front of him. He was menacing, his eyes were dark and his skin was pale. Shouyo had a hard time analyzing this male but one thing that he knew was the fact that this man before him had heartbeat twice faster than normal. Just like a vampire.

Shouyo blinked, trying to make out the man’s face. When bit by bit, it became clearer, Shouyo could practically feel his face paled more than it already was. Gods, this man was Shouyo’s…soulmate. And… he was probably too shocked back then so he didn't notice, but he had the same face as Osamu’s. What was going on here?

“You’re the halfling,” Shouyo breathed out.

The halfling—half vampire and half human—sneered. “It amazes me how you instantly could tell what I am the first time you saw me back at the bar. Other vampires never did so far.”

Shouyo couldn’t answer immediately. His mind was still reeling, trying to catch up with what was happening right now. He met his soulmate. This halfling was his soulmate. Oh Gods, they must’ve seen his soulmate mark, that was why they brought him here, to interrogate him. And just his luck, the one who interrogated him right now was his _own_ soulmate.

Even through his haziness, Shouyo could see how devastatingly handsome this man was. He had the exact face as Osamu’s, but he never thought Osamu as someone overly attractive.

This person, though, he was so attractive that it hurt to see him without being able to touch him. His pale skin, plump lips, dark eyes, sharp jaws, and messy blond hair, all of them were practically begging to be touched. It also didn’t help that he was wearing a tight muscle shirt. This man was physically perfect it was unfair. Granted, the fact that he was a half-vampire probably added onto his handsomeness. But Shouyo bet that as human, he would be as gorgeous.

Oh Gods, Hinata Shouyo, stop ogling your soulmate!

Shouyo cleared his throat. He needed to think fast. “Well, I think you already knew by now how exceptionally special I am, Mr. Halfling.”

The man’s eyes turned a shade darker. “Stop calling me halfling,”

Shouyo scoffed. The halfling's eyes were obviously dark red. A sign that he was half-vampire. A vampire that was turned because they were bitten, but not receiving vampire's blood to make them become a full vampire. “Trying to deny your nature, I see.”

In an instant, Shouyo could feel the room temperature drop. This halfling—his soulmate—was one hilarious man. He tried so hard to hide his nature as half vampire when it was so blatantly obvious. They were the same being.

“Don’t be so hostile,” Shouyo egged on him. “I was only saying the truth.” He was playing a dangerous game here, trying to provoke him like this. But Shouyo still couldn’t find what he needed to do to be able to get out of this situation.

“The _only_ thing that you can do right now is shut your mouth unless I ask you to speak, vampire.”

Under his piercing gaze, Shouyo was completely aware that he was on this man's mercy. One wrong move, he would get hurt, or worse, he would get killed.

Judging from how he acted, Shouyo knew that this halfling must’ve not aware that Shouyo was his soulmate. Most of half-vampires were turned vampires. That was why they didn’t have some of the vampires’ features, such as vampire’s soulmate mark, which Shouyo and other pure vampires had had since birth. This meant his soulmate would have no sign or whatsoever to tell him that Shouyo was his soulmate. Except his instinct. If his vampire’s instinct was strong enough, it must’ve been clamoring right now to be near Shouyo.

Because this was what Shouyo felt right now.

Shouyo hated this. He hated how much he yearned to be close to the man in front of him right now. Why, just why his soulmate had to be his kind’s worst enemy, a vampire hunter.

With his eyes closed for a second to regain his composure, his breathing still ragged due to his weak system, Shouyo asked once again. “What do you want?”

_What do you want?_

_What do I want, indeed._

_What are you trying to do here, Atsumu?_

What Atsumu knew was, when he saw the golden pattern, a soulmate mark, on this vampire’s chest, he lost his goddamn mind. He was angry, livid even. The monitors in his office turned red and all he could do was stormed out of his office, stopped the entire research on the vampire, and demanded him to be heavily drugged while he calmed himself to be able to interrogate him.

Interrogate him about what? Fuck if he knew.

Rei would surely be mad at him if he knew that Atsumu was executing an interrogation without his knowledge. But Atsumu needed to talk with this vampire. Soon. Before he was gone crazy.

Atsumu got up from his seat and walked toward the vampire. “You see this tube?” Atsumu picked up the tube that was pierced to the vampire’s skin. The tube was connected to an IV bag, and he could control it with the remote with a red button in his palm. “Answer my questions or I’m going to insert this poison into you, vampire.”

Atsumu saw how the vampire’s lips pulled into a smirk. It was so disgusting that Atsumu wanted to wipe it off. How he wanted to do it? Atsumu didn’t want to go there.

This vampire should’ve known how dangerous his position was, but he still didn’t show any sign of fear. His deep silver eyes were stoic, unwavered. After this interrogation though, Atsumu would make sure that he would yield to him.

Still with his smirk, although his gaze was still kinda weak due to the heavy drug, he fired Atsumu’s exclaim with a bite, “You sure that your poison can hurt me enough for me to speak up about whatever it is you’re going to ask?”

Atsumu had enough. He pushed the button with unnecessary strength with his finger. With his eyes, he could see the black liquid ran along in the transparent tube, soon the liquid would reach inside the vampire’s body, through his white, _delectable_ skin.

Christ almighty. The liquid poison was a second away from killing this vampire slowly, and all Atsumu could think about was how he really wanted to touch that skin.

The vampire’s eyes followed the liquid. His expression turned aghast. “You’re really going to torture me?”

Atsumu raised his brows. “Why wouldn’t I want to torture you?”

The vampire’s eyes fell downcast, and if Atsumu’s eyes weren’t playing a trick on him, the leech actually looked like he was sad. But the expression was quickly changed as soon as the black liquid reached his skin.

Atsumu watched how the vampire locked his jaws so hard to hold him back from screaming. In an instant, sweat dotted his skin and his teeth chattered, trying to conceal the pain.

And it felt like a ton of stone just fell into the pit of Atsumu’s stomach.

The vampire laughed through gritted teeth, “Okay, that actually hurts.”

“Why are you different from your kind? You’re faster and stronger.”

The vampire coughed a couple of time before he answered. “Eh, you see, I’m not from Earth. Oh wait, maybe I’m struck by lightning or get crushed by a meteor? Or maybe, I got this power from alien.”

“I don’t have time for your games. Is it because you have a soulmate?”

The vampire actually looked surprised. “You know I have a soulmate?”

Atsumu didn’t really know how to respond. This was the first time that this facility was able to capture a vampire that bore a bright soulmate mark. His team was kind of aware of the existence of vampire’s soulmate, but they never encountered it directly that they thought it was just a myth.

“We saw your mark,” he simply answered.

“You think having a soulmate could make our kind stronger? Awh, the power of love. You’re a romantic, aren’t you?”

“Answer my question.”

“Or what?”

“Or we’ll get your soulmate and kill them. Wouldn’t want that to happen to them, right?”

The vampire was silent after that, contemplating. And somehow this irritated the hell out of Atsumu. The fact that this low creature was thinking of protecting their soulmate but they hurt human beings was making him rage. Yes, that was the reason why he felt so mad right now. Not at all because this vampire showed that he cared for his soulmate.

“There’s no connection between having a soulmate and our strength. I'm not even familiar with soulmate either. The only thing I can tell you is that, our previously colorless mark will change color once we meet our soulmate. That's it.”

“Then why are you so strong?” Atsumu’s finger hovered over the button, intentionally making the vampire saw it to threaten him.

The vampire’s eyes turned crestfallen once more. “You want to hurt me again? I bet this hurt you more than it hurts me.”

The statement caught Atsumu off guard. “What do you mean?”

“I’ll never answer your questions.”

Atsumu pushed the button and he saw the vampire’s back bowed as he shrieked until the lightbulb above them shattered. The pain seemed to linger longer this time, the vampire’s screamed lasted longer until sobs came out from his mouth.

His pain should be like music to Atsumu’s ears, but all he did now was concentrating so he wouldn't pass out. He could feel his stomach hurt, the bile rising in his throat.

The pain must’ve been so great because after that the vampire was unconscious, his posture slacked and pitiful with silver-laced rope around him.

Only after he was sure that the vampire couldn’t witness it, Atsumu ran to the farthest corner of the room, vomiting the entire content of his stomach.

_I bet this hurt you more than it hurts me._

Shouyo really needed to stop waking up because he was forced to be unconscious. Whether it was because of sleeping drug or poison. Because it started to take a toll on his body to the point he was feeling groggy and lethargic even one hour after he woke up.

This time, he found himself lying down on a cold concrete ground. When he was strong enough to turn around on his side, he could see that he was behind the bars. A cell.

He wasn’t alone either this time. There was… a vampire in his cell. Clearly, the vampire was much younger than him as Shouyo couldn’t place his face as someone he knew. And if Shouyo wasn’t familiar with him, it meant he was probably under one hundred years old. Shouyo never associate himself with younglings, after all.

“Hey, you,” he started, and the young vampire startled and hugged his knees even tighter.

“Y-yes?” He stammered, his voice actually trembled, like he was scared of Shouyo.

“I’m the last person that you need to be afraid of,” Shouyo said as he struggled to sit up, trying to sound friendly, but he still felt too weak. His whole body hurt, and his strength had not come back fully yet. Sitting up already made him panting. “What’s your name?” he asked, although his eyes were still half closed, pressing the pain coursed through his body.

“I-I’m Kakeru. I’m s-sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

This Kakeru kid, only when Shouyo could see him clearly that he saw, was actually crying. Poor him. He must've been so scared to be here. Kakeru was one handsome young vampire. His blueish, black hair complemented his almost-transparent skin, his silver eyes shone so bright albeit the tears pooling in his eye sockets. He reminded Shouyo of his vampire best friend, Tobio

“You didn’t wake me." Shouyo smiled at him. "How long have I passed out? How long have I been here?”

“Uhm,” the young vampire fidgeted, trying to avoid Shouyo’s gaze. “They brought you here six hours ago. You’ve been unconscious ever since."

Shouyo looked down at his clothes. It was still the same white scrub from the interrogation room. It means they didn’t bother to change his clothes before they took him here. So the chance was he had been unconscious for a total six hours.

The problem was, Shouyo had lost count of how long he had been in the facility. He had been unconscious here and there for too many times. There was no way he could count the exact hours. But he was confident that the clock had not passed 48 hours.

Forty eight hours.

By this time, Osamu must’ve realized that Shouyo had gone missing. After all, he had never disappeared without news for more than twenty four hours. Surely, Osamu was panicking right now. His favorite vampire underling was smart and calculating. Shouyo could trust Osamu with his life. What he needed to do was now trying to prolong his time here before he got cut open or killed, and Osamu and the others helped him escape.

But how? He knew he had a blatant option in front of him right now. He was the soulmate of the freaking officer here. Based on how he acted and worked, Shouyo was sure that his soulmate was at least a commander. If he could convinced the halfling to let him go…

He had two options. One, trying to prolong his time here just by letting his nonsense chatters do the job. Since his cleverness had saved him from so many occasion, Shouyo refused to believe that he would fail now. He could probably also bring up Osamu, and asked if he knew him.

Option two, he could use the soulmate matter to get himself out of here.

Shouyo bit his lips. Option two was obviously risky. There are two outcomes that could possibly happen if he told the halfling the truth. He could go absolutely berserk, accusing him for lying, and killed him immediately. Or, it would catch him off guard, made him aware that he had a soulmate. And maybe, just maybe, he would help and save Shouyo.

No, Shouyo wasn’t really expected his handsome soulmate would go fully falling in love with him. That was just the same as asking for a freaking flood in a desert. But...

If the halfling became as simply as conscious of him as something other than _just_ a vampire, it was enough.

“Hey,” Shouyo called out. “How long have you been here, Kakeru?”

Kakery raised his head slowly, but still avoided Shouyo’s gaze. “A week.”

“What did they do to you so far?”

“Interrogate me and…”

Shouyo narrowed his eyes. “Did they cut you open or something?”

Kakeru shook his head. “No, but they tried to torture me. About the surgery being done to us, it’s not my turn yet. But I heard from some of our cell neighbors, they cut it clean so the wound healed in a day. I think they wanted to know what’s inside our body.

Shouyo shuddered and looked around the cell. “Did you try to check out this cell? How about those bars? Is it possible to break them?"

“Yes, but it immediately sent an alert to the security even if we merely touched it.”

Shouyo hummed. So trying to escape by himself through force wasn’t an option.

He needed to use his head to get out, but he seriously had no idea how. His brain wasn't warmed up enough for this.

“Uhm,” a sound came from Kakeru.

“What's wrong?” The young vampire was looking at him now despite the fear in his eyes.

“Are you… the infamous Shouyo? When you were captured the block were talking about how doomed we are because if _Shouyo_ was captured, our chance of escaping is close to zero.”

“Infamous Shouyo, huh?” Shouyo rested his head to the hard stone behind him. He knew that he was pretty famous in the community due to his slickness on escaping the hunters, but really, he didn't deserve that title at all. “How many of us had been captured, Kakeru, do you know?”

“Around fifty. I heard it from the old vampire beside our cell.”

In a span of two months, the hunters managed to capture fifty of them. That was a lot.

In two months… why did they only start now? Where were they all this time? Waiting for the right time? Training? Preparing? For how long already?

Judging from his soulmate, who was still visibly young, probably around 40 years old, this organization was probably built around when he turned as half-vampire. More or less twenty years ago? Could this organization have been established since so long?

“How about the leader? Do you know?”

Kakeru tilted his head. He was obviously calmer now. “You mean Rei? I think he’s the leader here, but I never see him. In fact, none of us had seen him. He’s the leader but I think the one who manages the facility is that… uhm, I don’t know his name, but he’s actually a half-vampire.

Shouyo’s guess was right, then. His soulmate was some kind of a commander here. He had an important position. If Shouyo at least could get him on his side, he could be free and save Kakeru and the others.

"Also, I heard so many of us said that the half-vampire looked a lot like Osamu, and I agree. Could it be… that they're twins?" Kakeru asked.

Shouyo had not entertained the possibility, but…

Some of his memories came back to him. And he remembered how Osamu had told him back then that he had a late twin brother called _'Tsumu_.

No way… Shouyo clasped his mouth with his hand. Were they really brothers?

Atsumu just finished writing his report about his interrogation with the vampire when his body told him that it was time for him to rest. He could barely opened his eyes now.

After his session with… Shouyo—saying his name, or even thinking it, still felt taboo for him—and puked his gut out, Atsumu had injected himself with his usual drug. So he _should_ feel better now. But reminiscing about his session so he could write the report, proved to be as hard as when he was experiencing it in that interrogation room.

_I bet this hurt you more than it hurts me._

Simply pushing the button for the poison affected him nearly as much. Like he was the one being tortured.

_What is happening?_

Shouyo was supposed to be like any other prisoners. Atsumu should’ve supervised him impassively. But he could feel himself being pulled by unseen force. So strong, and so fierce it almost knocked him out, leaving him breathless.

Atsumu looked at his family photo in his desk. The picture when all of them laughed like there wasn't a single burden in this world. They knew they have each other, they can do and face anything.

Looking at his family photo used to strengthen his resolve. But now, not even this…

Atsumu put down the picture.

He knew that torturing Shouyo wouldn't work, unless he wanted to throw up again, and Atsumu didn't want the vampire to know that he had that much effect on him. So he needed to find another way.

Civilized conversation? It would probably work better, since being violent to him proved to only make him more feral. But could Atsumu handle an actual conversation with the vampire? Faking his hatred with the mask of torturer was doable, but even then, it was hard, all he wanted to do was to stop the session, destroy the IV bag, and just… hold him. Atsumu didn't know how he would react if they tried to hold a proper conversation.

Would he be able to keep his hands to himself?

“Subject 105, you’re up for interrogation.”

Shouyo glanced at the two big, bald guys outside of his cell. They looked like the cell guards that had been walking back and forth every day, but these two appeared more… scary. Like they really were born to pick up some vampire prisoners.

Shouyo looked at Kakeru. “Is that supposed to be me?” He remembered that the physicians called him “subject” when they examined him the other day, but he couldn’t recall what number he was.

“Again?” Kakeru's face was the one who blanched. “But you were just interrogated yesterday.”

The fact that they waited another day to call him up again was already a miracle in itself. After the failed interrogation the other day, Shouyo already knew that it wouldn’t be the last. Clearly, he was their precious possession right now. And Shouyo couldn’t lie that he was waiting to be called again, so he could talk to… his soulmate again.

After all, his soulmate held a key role in his escape plan. Yup.

“What can I do, Kakeru? The commander loves me.” Shouyo winked at him. Kakeru was such a soft kid. He worried about him a lot even though they just know each other for approximately twenty four hours. He took care of Shouyo and trusted him a lot.

Shouyo swore Kakeru would be the first he took when he escaped from this hell hole.

The two officers pulled him with force but it was nothing that Shouyo could handle. The rest day he got had given him extra time to draw back his strength. Although he was still not 100% well, at least Shouyo had gotten his groove back.

“So, am I going back to meet the commander again?” Shouyo tried to fish something out. “You guys only have one commander here, or what?”

The officers didn’t respond to him in any kind of way, which was to be expected. But it gave Shouyo at least a hint of his soulmate’s level of authority here. So obviously, Shouyo’s guess that his soulmate was on a higher rank was true. The officers refused or was probably ordered to not speak a word regarding him.

Shouyo needed to take the right steps here, or he would lose his only way out.

They arrived in front of an iron door that Shouyo wasn’t familiar with, but when the heavy door opened, the room looked exactly the same with the one he was tortured in the other day. A shiver ran down Shouyo’s body. He might act tough the other day, but the poison _did_ hurt a lot. Whatever it was inside the liquid wouldn’t be able to kill him, yes, but it had the ability to make him writhe in honest pain.

They pushed Shouyo to sit on the familiar wooden chair and tied up with the equally familiar rope. The rope burned his skin just the same.

After they were sure that they had secured Shouyo, the guards left him alone in the cold, dimmed room.

Shouyo half-expected that he would be abandoned for long, but a minute later, he was no longer alone.

Shouyo gave his brightest fake smile. “Hey, long time no see.”

The sour look on his soulmate’s face was priceless. “I gave you one day to rest and you’re back to being bold.” He then took a seat across from Shouyo, just like the last time. “I clearly remembered you fainted the last time.”

“You’re not gonna insert the poison juice again?” Shouyo tilted his head, pouting. “I kinda like the pain.”

Shouyo’s hands were trembling behind him. He was bluffing so hard he was sure the halfling could smell his bullshit from where he sat. But he had decided that this was the route he was gonna take.

He would try to get his soulmate’s heart, through any possible way. Flirting? Bluffing? Lying?

His soulmate might be only a half-vampire. But he still managed to get Shouyo the last time. So trying to defeat him through brute force was out of question. For now.

“I have other things that could hurt you more than that.” His soulmate taunted him. He was smiling, but his body was tense. “You see, this room’s roof can be opened. If you want, I can open it. I bet you miss the sunshine.”

“Ha, funny.” Shouyo chuckled, but the truth was he couldn’t tell if the half-vampire was joking or not. Shouyo’s heart raced. There was one thing that he needed to try, and now was the right time. “You won’t dare, though.”

“What do you mean?”

“Sunlight will kill me, and you can’t kill me… yet, because I'm special and important for your research.” Shouyo gulped. “And just like I said. It will hurt you more than it hurts me.”

Shouyo saw his soulmate’s face morphed from surprised to angry in a split second. It was fascinating, yet scary at the same time, how fast this man flipped his emotion.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Shouyo could see his eyes turned a shade darker. “What have you been doing to me since day one?”

Shouyo’s heartbeat couldn’t be faster than this. His suspicion was right. His soulmate felt it… he felt the connection between them. “Let me guess, you felt really bad when you tortured me the last time, right?”

His soulmate schooled his expression this time. He didn’t look too phased like the last time. “I see that you expected it. You understand that it only made you more suspicious, right?”

Shouyo narrowed his eyes. Despite how nervous he was right now, he wondered what did his soulmate think. What did he think those reactions were? Did it even cross his mind that Shouyo was his soulmate?

“Well,” Shouyo tried to play it light. “I would love to tell you, but I can’t do it here.” He looked around the room, and just as he thought, the amount of CCTV here was dangerous. He couldn’t tell the halfling that they were soulmate here, where the whole facility could watch. “You would have to bring me somewhere without any eyes watching us.”

This wouldn’t be easy, Shouyo knew. His soulmate was one hard, stubborn man. Bringing him somewhere private would take his everything.

“You expect me to bring you somewhere alone? You think I’m that stupid?”

“No, you see, I know that you’re _not_ stupid. You _know_ that I won’t talk. And you ran out of idea to make me talk. So… be smart. Take me somewhere private, and I’ll talk.”

With the shift in his soulmate’s expression, Shouyo knew that he won.

Atsumu sat on the edge of his bed. He already got rid of his weapons from his body, his day was over. But he couldn’t bring himself to lie down and rest.

The words from a certain vampire kept on ringing in his ears.

The request was ridiculous. There was no way that Atsumu could cooperate with that. He knew that he didn’t want to. But he needed to. He knew he does.

But on the cost of bringing him here? The only place that Atsumu knew was camera-free was his own room, after all.

A knock came from his door, pulling him out from his dilemma. The last person that Atsumu wanted to see right now emerged from behind the door.

“Hey, Boss,” Atsumu got up. “I didn’t know that you’re back.”

Rei closed the door and leaned his back. The old man looked genuinely tired. Even from afar, Atsumu could see how his wrinkles became more prominent and the dark shadow under his eyes deepened. “Only for me to go again immediately. I have some matter that I need to do. I’m afraid that I’m gonna left the facility to you for a couple of weeks, Atsumu.”

Atsumu shrugged. “This wouldn’t be the first time. What business do you have now?”

“I’m thinking to open another facility in another place. You know full well that vampires are everywhere, right? It’s time to expand our ideals.”

 _Ideals._ What even was their ideals again? Atsumu had long forgotten about that.

“You can go however long and I can still manage the Institute just fine,” Atsumu said, sitting down once again. His strength dissipated by minutes.

Rei sauntered toward him. Twenty years of knowing him, it amazed Atsumu how this man still could make him respect him just by standing there.

“I know that you can do it, Atsumu.” Rei smiled. “I know that I can trust you.”

Atsumu gulped.

And he was just about to break that trust.

“I never thought that you’d actually do it, halfling.”

Atsumu flinched, when he heard the voice that had been haunting him for the past few days, coming inside his room.

He did it. He truly had done it. He invited the vampire to his room.

A _freaking_ vampire, in _his_ room.

The vampire was still wearing the same unflattering white prisoner clothes, with his hands chained by silver handcuffs. So Atsumu really, really shouldn’t be feeling things seeing him inside his room. But here he was, trying so hard to keep his feet on the spot, refusing to walk toward the vampire no matter how hard the pull to touch him was.

They were alone in his room. Just like how the vampire requested. No camera, and no one else watching. Atsumu was free to do and say anything here. He could do everything he had been wanting to do to the vampire all this time, without being afraid that he was being monitored.

What did Atsumu want to do to him, though?

He knew that inviting Shouyo to his room would raise questions to some of his subordinates. That was why he asked Koutaro to bring him here. But this was his only chance, while Rei was out of the facility. No one would dare to inform Rei what Atsumu had been doing.

“So,” the vampire kept the distance between them, and Atsumu was grateful for it. “What do you want to know then, halfling?”

“Stop calling me halfling.”

The vampire’s face twitched. He tried to hide it, but Atsumu could see it… how the vampire’s face softened at his words. “What should I call you, then? What’s your name?”

The soothing voice almost threw Atsumu out of loop. Why, he didn’t have the answers to that. “I don’t want my name to be uttered by you. You can just call me chief.”

The vampire looked hurt, but still chuckled. “Okay, then. What did I say, huh? Don’t need to be so hostile, alright? I won’t call your name.”

But that was the problem. Atsumu’s fists tightened. He _wanted_ to hear his name uttered by that soothing, cheerful voice of this vampire. He longed for it so much it almost pained him.

“Okay, so,” Atsumu relaxed a bit, and looked at the vampire. Most of the prisoners here looked shit after at least three days being held captive. But in Atsumu’s eyes, this vampire looked as beautiful as the first day they met. “You gonna start talking or what?” Atsumu forced the bite out of his mouth and prayed that his tone sounded harsh enough.

The vampire huffed out a breath. “Like I said, what do you want to know?”

“Everything.”

“Everything is a lot. Ask question one by one like a proper adult that you are.”

Atsumu narrowed his eyes, contemplating if this was just the vampire's ploy, but decided this was harmless in the end. "How old are you?"

"One hundred and forty six. My birthday is in June 21, by the way, thank you for asking."

"So you're still fairly young, how can you be so strong?"

"Is old vampire the only one allowed to be strong?"

"Answer my question, vampire."

"I have a name, you know," he sighed, but then he started answering. "I guess I'm born from a strong set of parents? Nothing out of ordinary here, chief."

"Where are your parents now?"

Atsumu particularly watched the reaction to this question, but the vampire's expression gave nothing away. "Dead. They fought in some kind of a war back in the day. Don't ask me what war it was because I don't remember. It was when I was still around thirty years old."

Was he telling the truth? It couldn't be that simple.

"You have a soulmate. Who is it?"

Only now that he showed a slight change in his expression. Interesting. So it was true that soulmates were important in vampire's race. Atsumu might really be able to use this.

"Do you still think that my strength has something to do with soulmate? I told you, it's not—"

"Who," Atsumu cut him off. "...is your soulmate?"

The vampire sighed. His wall was still up and Atsumu still had a hard time to read him, but he could see how the blood-sucking creature panicking to come up with something.

"If I tell you who he was, you'll capture him for sure. You think I'm that stupid?"

He? His soulmate was a he?

This vampire… Shouyo had a soulmate… a lover. Somebody out there, some man that Atsumu didn't know of had touched Shouyo's soft, white skin. Had the privilege of kissing Shouyo right before he woke up and right before he fell asleep. Had Shouyo's unconditional, eternal love.

Atsumu never wanted to kill someone this badly. His hands itched to shred the neck of whoever Shouyo's soulmate was.

"Chief, you okay? Your eyes are blazing like fire right now. Calm down."

Atsumu's jaw tightened, and he could feel his fangs lengthened.

He was getting out of control.

_Mine._

Cold hands touched his cheeks, and just like that, the touch sent a jolt into him, and Atsumu was pulled out of whatever it was that overtook him. Without him realizing, Shouyo was already right in front of him.

"Chief, get ahold of yourself." Shouyo looked up at him, his eyes showed genuine concern. Atsumu could feel his thumbs caressing his cheeks. "Be at ease. We can't have you suddenly go berserk here."

"I—" Atsumu blinked. "I don't know what came over me."

"Geez," Shouyo huffed out a relieved breath. "What set you off like that?"

Realizing that he was invading Atsumu's space, Shouyo immediately put down his cuffed hands and took a step backward. And Atsumu instantly missed the touch. That was the second time that he had touched Shouyo directly, the first being him manhandling the vampire while capturing him a few days ago. And Atsumu wanted more.

Atsumu waited until his breath even. It was a hard task to do, but he forced his mind—the primal side of his mind, specifically—to shut down.

Shouyo kept quiet the whole time, keeping the distance between them, but still close enough. Always close enough for Atsumu to reach out.

"You okay now?" Shouyo asked, fidgeting on his feet.

Atsumu couldn't believe that he just showed a vulnerable side of him in front of his enemy. He hated how he lost control everytime he was near the vampire. Hated it that Shouyo had so much effect on him. He hated it even more how natural it felt, all this stupid turmoil that had been happening inside him recently. Like it was normal to feel jealous, feel protective, and feel longing toward Shouyo.

He didn't feel like himself, yet he never felt even more like himself before this.

"What did you do to me?" Atsumu asked. He could feel his emotion stirred again, but this time it was driven by frustration. "Yesterday you said that you're gonna answer this question if I brought you somewhere private. You're here now, so answer it."

Atsumu had expected he would see various reaction. It was either the vampire would play it off like usual, answering it with just another bluff, or maybe he would give him an honest answer. But a distressed look from the vampire wasn't one of them.

Shouyo's gaze wavered, his lips opened and closed again. He was unsure, Atsumu could see, but not because he was trying to lie. It was more of because he didn't know how to say it.

_Be at ease._

Shouyo had said that to him earlier, and Atsumu wanted to say it back now. More than anything, he didn't want Shouyo to feel uneasy. It was weird, but all he wanted was for Shouyo to trust him, to tell him anything. Why did this topic upset him like this?

The vampire visibly gulped. And after a considerable amount of seconds, he finally spoke. "You said you want to know who my soulmate is. He’s… a stubborn man."

Atsumu quirked his brows. "Why are you telling me this?"

Shouyo kept talking, his gaze never leaving Atsumu's. "I haven't known him for really long, so I still don't know what redeeming qualities he has other than his devastatingly handsome face. But he was well-respected by his peers. And smart. And vicious. And so good at combat. And have I mentioned that he's handsome? Because he's _really_ handsome."

"I didn't want to know about this."

"I hate how mean he is to me, but then again, he's weak when it comes to me. Already, I can tell that he’s protective, and I… like him for that."

Atsumu really didn't want to hear any of this. "Stop this, vampire. That is _not_ my question."

"The problem is, he doesn't know that he's my soulmate, and that I'm his," Shouyo paused. "That's why I think he's really confused with his feelings right now."

_What a terrible soulmate he has there. If it were me…_

Atsumu cut the thought immediately. What was he thinking?

Reminded of his initial intention to interrogate the vampire, Atsumu set his jaw. Shouyo was clearly trying to waste his time by spurting out a load of bullshit.

“I couldn’t care less about your soulmate story. Make up your mind. Do you want to answer my first question about who your soulmate is, or my question about what happened to me?"

Shouyo shook his head, looking dejected for a second. It came and went away in an instant, but Atsumu caught it. He would always catch it, the little things done by this vampire.

A knock came from his door, and Atsumu cursed. “Who is it?”

“It’s me, Koutaro. We need to do our round.”

Atsumu completely forgot about his packed schedule for the night. He had asked Koutaro earlier to pick him up in half an hour. Had thirty minutes gone by just like that?

“A minute,” he answered back, and focused himself on Shouyo once again. “You did this intentionally. You draw out time.”

The vampire smiled. "Oh, chief. I did no such thing. I did what you asked me to do.”

“What?”

“I’ve answered both of your questions. Who my soulmate is, and what happened to you.”

Atsumu’s eyebrows drew in the middle. “No, you didn’t.”

“I did,” Shouyo walked backwards slowly, creating much wider distance between them.

“You should’ve listened more carefully.” Then he turned around. “Aren’t you going to open the door? You have your _round_ and clearly I need to go back to my cell.”

Atsumu was lost for words.

Shouyo thought that he would feel victorious after he talked with his soulmate. He came into his room full of hope and came back feeling upset. Of what? He didn’t even know.

Maybe the fact that his soulmate was _right there_ , yet he couldn’t touch him, hug him, tell him that they were soulmate, had slowly weighed on him.

Shouyo brought his knees to his chest, his arms wrapped around his legs, letting the silence of his cell and Kakeru’s soft snores drown him.

Shouyo should’ve not cared about this. His goal was just too get out of this facility and save his kind. But he didn’t know what came over him back there. A crushing sadness just washed over him when he saw how clueless the commander was about their bond.

He still didn’t know what would his soulmate think or do if he told him straight up that they were soulmates. He didn’t even know what was the reaction he expected or wanted.

His head was a mess, and Shouyo never felt more hopeless than this. He couldn’t do this.

His hand wandered to his chest, the exact spot where he knew that his soulmate mark was now bright gold.

He wanted to blame it on his instinct that he felt this sad. But he knew, deep down, that this had nothing to do with instinct, or intuition, or soulmate bond. There was something about the other that drawn Shouyo in, stronger than soulmate bond.

Shouyo just really, really started to care for that dumbass of a soulmate of his.

And he knew that the moment he cared, he had lost the battle.

“So what’s your deal with that special vampire, chief?”

Atsumu stopped his movement, the needle of his drug injection was inches away from the skin of his biceps. He glared at Koutaro, who was standing beside him in the dark, damp alley in the middle of the night. “How many time do I have to tell you that you can’t distract me when I’m injecting this?”

Koutaro shrugged. Atsumu noticed that that was his subordinate’s favorite gesture. “Sorry but, I was really curious. People in the facility were talking, you know? Said that it was the first time you brought a prisoner to your room.”

Atsumu rolled his eyes. He had expected the rumors, but he hadn’t thought that he would be confronted directly like this. “If you have time to gossip, then you’re well aware that the only reason for that was because that vampire wouldn’t want to talk if it’s not in private.”

“The fact that you even granted that wish of him is already weird, though. What did you want to know from him anyway?”

“You can read the report later after we get back and I write it. Now we need to focus on the task.”

Atsumu looked back at his arm. Slowly, he injected the drug that he usually used before he started the mission. It was a suppressant as well as a stimulant. It suppressed his intent to kill, yet stimulated his other inhumanely ability, such as speed and strength.

Atsumu flinched as he felt the drug take effect on him, flowing through him.

“I heard that he has a soulmate,” Koutaro spoke again next to him, Atsumu looked at him. “That vampire, I mean.”

Atsumu looked away from him. He didn’t want to be reminded about that, honestly. “Yeah, he does.”

“Wow, isn’t that super rare?”

“That’s why I need to dig information from him.” Atsumu rested his head on the concrete wall behind him. When he exhaled, a thin layer of white breath escaped him. “He’s stubborn. It’s not easy.”

“But I don’t think he’s strong because he has a soulmate.”

The comment actually surprised Atsumu. He looked at the human with dubious eyes. “That’s what Shouyo said, but I don’t believe him. Why did you say that?”

“Oh, so you already on real name basis. Sooo cute.” The new vampire hunter smiled. Atsumu really wanted to slap him. Why was he partnered up with him again even after his probation had finished? “Anyway, yeah, if anything, I think soulmate made vampires more vulnerable. They would have weakness. Someone precious that they needed to protect at all cost. I heard that they can feel hurt too when they soulmate get hurt. That was one big weakness right there, don’t you think?”

Atsumu ignored the first comment from his subordinate as the explanation about vampire’s soulmate resonated in his mind.

Weakness.

Vulnerable.

Hurt.

_It will hurt you more than it hurts me._

His brain was trying to connect the dots, his mind reeling on the events for the past five days since he met the vampire. It was nothing short of strange.

The pull he had on Atsumu, the feeling of guilt, the longing to touch, the urge to protect, and the desire to just… hold him.

_I haven't known him for so long._

_I hate how mean he is to me_

_He doesn't know that he's my soulmate, and that I'm his soulmate._

Atsumu could hear a muffled sound came from Koutaro. But he couldn’t make out of his words. It was probably something like _Chief, our target is in sight,_ but Atsumu couldn’t be really sure. Because all he could hear right now was the thrum of his heartbeat and his blood rushing to his head.

Could it be...

Shouyo waited.

He was counting the seconds that he would be called again. Shouyo expected that it would be the next day after his first visit to his soulmate’s room. After all, that interrogation session could still be considered a fail on their end. So, surely, he would be called again, right?

But it had been three days since then, and no, Shouyo was left alone. Untouched.

He saw other jail mates had come and go. Some of them being interrogated, some of them being cut open. Vivisected, as they said. They came back to their cell with their chest obviously being stitched poorly by the doctors. And Shouyo shuddered by the thought that it would be his turn soon if he wasn’t able to get away from here.

His time was running out. He had been here for eight days, and that meant, it was already a whole two weeks for Kakeru. The likelihood that Kakeru would be soon called to be vivisected was very high. Shouyo needed to save this kid.

However, contrary to what he had thought, he wasn’t called even once in a span of three days. The absolute mum made him restless. Did he make a mistake back there? Did he say something wrong?

He didn’t even know if this neglect from the facility’s side… from his soulmate, had anything to do with what he did the other day, or maybe his soulmate was just busy.

Either way, Shouyo was panicking and he didn’t know what to do.

The sound of chaos was heard a couple blocks from Shouyo’s cell. The fight between cells wasn’t anything new here, but this one was done over something so simple yet it dragged so long that it made Shouyo tired listening to it.

“Ugh, can we just get along?” Shouyo screamed, hoping that everyone in the cell could hear him, and just. Shut. Up! But the noise was still as loud as ever.

Shouyo was exhausted, he missed his bed, and he started to feel the thirst. After all, he was captured when he was only just starting to suck off his food back in the bar.

So, at the very least, Shouyo hadn’t feed for three weeks. He wasn’t hungry, because the officer kept on giving them _human food_ to eat, it was just the thirst that started to crawl on him.

Sure, he and other inmates could survive with human food, but nothing could beat their thirst for blood.

Shouyo shook his head. He couldn’t whine because he knew there were others who had it worse. Some of them were captured two months ago.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang coming from the source of the fight, and in an instant, the chaos turned down until absolute silent.

Shouyo and Kakeru glanced at each other, confused by what was happening. That was rather a loud bang, but it wasn’t a shot of a gun.

Whispers started to erupt, and other inmates were pushing to the bars of their cell, trying to see what had happened at the end of this block, but at the same time trying not to touch the bars, afraid that it would send an alert.

It was obvious that the fight had been handled. There were no longer shouts coming from anywhere else in the jail, and Shouyo could tell even from where he was that the air was different. It was more tense and cold now. Almost like when…

A figure came to view and a shiver immediately ran down Shouyo’s spine. His kind had stopped whispering altogether and started to take step backwards into their cell.

Shouyo’s unconsciously held his breath when he saw it was actually his soulmate right there. At that moment, he looked bigger and fiercer.

The halfling radiated murderous energy that made the temperature drop so low that left Shouyo wonder if he was aware of it. There were two vampire in his hands, being dragged while their heads rolled to the front.

There he was, his soulmate, right before his eyes, exuding a predator aura that could melt him. The halfling was angry, it was shown in his eyes. His jaws taut, and his eyes burned. The fight between the inmates must’ve pissed him off so much.

And Shouyo strangely wanted to calm him down.

At that moment, Shouyo stepped forward, made his presence known to the man. And as if he had an invisible force, his soulmate’s eyes met his. Shouyo expected to be ignored, but what he got was a surprised look, not because the halfling didn’t expect him to be there, but it was the kind of surprise that shown the rush of emotion roared into him by looking at Shouyo.

They looked away almost at the same time. Shouyo missed the look on his soulmate’s face as he was too busy pushing down his own emotion.

There they went again. The longing to be with his soulmate was almost unbearable.

Atsumu tried his best, really, he had tried his best, to avoid Shouyo. He had done it for three days. He could do it for more, supposedly. But all it did to him was making it hard to breathe. Maybe not taking his injection for three days wasn't good idea either.

He exhaled a shaky breath as he closed the door to his office. He was losing control by seconds every time he saw the vampire. That was why he avoided him for so long. He hoped that he could get his grip, but he should’ve known.

Shouyo had control over him.

It was funny how one second he was ready to unleash hell when he heard that the fight broke out in the jail. Atsumu had been feeling shitty for days, the realization that Shouyo might be his soulmate, and how much he missed him, took a toll on him, and fights between those lowly creatures was the last thing he wanted to handle. He could handle it pretty well, and once again, he had affirmed his position as the bossman there. He could sense the fear from all those leeches.

But then, the moment his gaze landed on _that_ vampire… reasons fled him. Atsumu’s mind drew in a blank and his resolve that he tried to build for the past three days crumbled.

Atsumu knew that the moment their eyes met, his head would go to the possibility that had been weighing his mind every minute, every second, these days.

_He’s your soulmate._

Atsumu shook his head.

No.

Even the thought of it was enough to make him sick to the pit of his stomach. But he knew that it wasn't because he was disgusted by the thought of Shouyo as his soulmate, but it was beause he hated himself for having _hope_ that his speculation was probably true.

Just like what he had done countless of times, he shut down the thought and focused on what he was going to do.

He had it all plan out. Obviously, interrogation wouldn’t work on Shouyo. Whether Shouyo would just keep dodging the questions or Atsumu would lose his mind in the middle of it. So he would start to treat Shouyo just like other inmates, the thing that he should’ve done from day one.

He would order a vivisection on Shouyo.

When it happened, Atsumu would make sure that he would be out on a mission so he wouldn’t witness it. Or else, he wouldn’t be able to handle it.

Atsumu called Koutaro to his office. He needed to do this before he changed his mind. But before even he called his subordinates, his office door was barged open. Koutaro was panting in his door, his face panicked.

“What’s wrong?” Atsumu got up from his seat.

Koutaro didn’t take longer than a second to answer him. Shaking his head, the new vampire hunter answered in grimace. “You’re not gonna like this, chief. But please refrain from destroying this facility.”

“Let go of Shouyo.”

The sound of Kakeru’s desperate shriek as he was being held back by the guards was so loud, while Shouyo was being dragged out by two big guards, along with one physician.

Kakeru was having a mental breakdown and all Shouyo did was gaping in shock since the three officers came to his cell and told him, _the chief ordered vivisection for you, come on._

Shouyo’s head had gone numb since the sentence was uttered to him. And they just let the guards practically haul him out. The sentence felt a lot like a slap on the face. _My own soulmate just ordered for me to be cut open._

Only with Kakeru’s scream, he finally snapped back. Shouyo raised his eyes and was met with Kakeru’s teary eyes and wet face. He was even more panicked than Shouyo who was going to be vivisected in a matter of minute.

Not even one hour from the incident between the inmates that made him see his soulmate for the first time in three days, Shouyo was ordered to be basically cut open.

“It’s not Shouyo’s turn. It’s supposed to be me first.” Kakeru cried. His eyes turned red with rage but there was an apparent fear in them. Shouyo wanted to protect this kid so bad.

“Kakeru,” Shouyo called. His throat and chest felt like sand. “It’s okay. Calm down.”

“Let go of him. Let go of my brother.”

Shouyo didn’t believe in Gods or Jesus, but Gods help him, he was going to try his damndest to get Kakeru out of this hell facility. With or without his shitty soulmate’s help.

Kakeru’s scream must’ve attracted other cells, because now other vampires were all murmuring. They were gasping in shock, surprised that Shouyo who was there for only merely ten days was going for the vivisection procedure so early.

Shouyo still couldn’t wrap his head around this situation, so really, he could only just smile at Kakeru, trying to reassure him, while he couldn’t even bring himself to struggle to free himself or run away. He was too preoccupied by how funny the situation really was.

As his head hung low, the guards shuffling him through the alley, passing by through every cell, Shouyo felt a sting in the corner of his eyes. He should’ve felt angry, betrayed. Either it was by his fate or soulmate.

But he felt miserable instead. Shouyo had hope in them. In him and the commander. They were soulmates. _How could he—_

_No, don’t go there, Hinata Shouyo. You’re just going to destroy your heart like this._

Before he knew it, he was thrown into yet another familiar room. It was similar to the one where he first woke up. And he was also met with another set of familiar physicians. At least five pairs of human eyes were looking at him. Shooting him with uncomfortable eyes. It was obvious that they were afraid of him. With how scared and weak they were right now, Shouyo could strike them dead in one hit.

But Shouyo, for the life of him, wasn’t able to move a single muscle in him. He was too numb. His stupid head was a jumble of mess, and he cursed himself for being too fond on his soulmate.

Screw fate. Screw his soulmate.

“Y’all don’t have to look so afraid.” Even to his ears, his voice sounded ridiculously hollow. “I won’t attack you or do anything stupid. You can cut me however you like. You won’t find anything anyway.”

Shouyo looked away from the physicians, his guards starting to lead him to the metal table. At the same time, Shouyo tried to find cameras in the room. In an instant, he found it in the four corners of the room.

He looked into one of them, and pray to whoever Gods above that his soulmate watched this. If his soulmate wanted to hurt him, fine. If this was what he wanted, so be it. But Shouyo wanted his soulmate to suffer through his pain. Felt it to his flesh, to his bone, to his blood.

Shouyo bit his lower lip, but it was too late. A fresh tears rolled down his cheek, and he immediately looked down.

“Damn it,” he hissed, quickly wiping the evidence of vulnerability with his clothes. This wasn’t like him. Shouyo would never let his emotion get the best of him. But then again, all this time, he never met his soulmate.

He let himself to be laid down on the metal table. Only then the guards let go of him. His hands, legs, and chest were tied down by the silver-clothed rope. And honestly, Shouyo couldn’t care less anymore.

He didn’t close his eyes. They didn’t put him to sleep either. They wanted him to feel the pain, maybe. Though the pain of his chest being cut would be much welcomed now for Shouyo. Honestly, he would take any kind of form of pain right now.

Anything.

Anything that could make him forget the pain in his heart.

Faintly, he heard the doctors yelling that they were ready for the procedure. And not long after, he could feel a sharp object pierced through his neck. They were drawing his blood in a rapid speed that Shouyo was dizzy and cold in a matter of second.

_Just kill me already._

Shouyo generally felt painless. After all, they hadn’t done anything other than draining his blood. He was in and out of consciousness when he wondered why he liked the halfling. By how he was treated for the past ten days or so, Shouyo was supposed to hate him. But he cared for him so much to the point that he had daydreamed that in different circumstances, they were probably happy together now.

Was it because they were soulmates? No, soulmate bond was strong, but it would only give each other attraction, not affection.

His soulmate had attracted the hell out of him, the man was gorgeous, after all. But Shouyo could no longer ignore the fondness, care, and affection he had toward his soulmate. If those feeling weren’t obvious enough, then this devastating feeling he had felt since he knew that he was betrayed had sealed the deal.

Shouyo was falling for his soulmate. Fast and deep.

Before Shouyo closed his eyes, he could feel the prick of metal on the skin of his chest. They had begun the cutting and Shouyo never felt more relieved.

“Everybody get out.”

The yell from a familiar, soothing sound was the last thing Shouyo heard before he went completely unconscious.

“Atsumu, calm down.”

Atsumu was aware that Koutaro was trying to stop him from trashing the whole room. But the only thing he could see right now was the sight of Shouyo lying unconscious, body lax and pale, from the lost of blood, while Atsumu’s whole body almost exploded, blood boiling.

“Get them all out of here, Koutaro,” Atsumu’s voice was nothing but a growl at this point. “Right now.”

He heard Koutaro click his tongue, but his subordinate did what he asked nonetheless. “Everyone, come on. Get out. Before you lose you heads. Seriously, Atsumu, calm down.”

Atsumu’s only care was Shouyo. He shoved every physician on his way, and instantly got to Shouyo’s side. The sight from up close was even scarier than the one in his office’s monitor. Shouyo looked dead, yet Atsumu was the one who felt like his heart stop beating.

He wasn't aware that his body was trembling all over when he took off his jacket, wrapping Shouyo with it, then picked Shouyo's unconscious body up.

"Shouyo? Hey…" his voice weak, but the rage inside of him kept on building while his mind kept running on what could possibly happen here.

He had planned to ask Koutaro to schedule a vivisection for the vampire but they apparently did it before he requested. The authority was on his hand right now, and they disregarded it without him knowing.

Not only that. They also handled the procedure so poorly. As if they did it in purpose, or as if they were… in hurry, afraid that Atsumu would know before they finished. They drained Shouyo's blood so fast it almost immediately killed the vampire. They didn't even give him drugs so he wouldn't feel pain. If Atsumu barge into the room one minute late, they would probably execute a murder on him.

Atsumu would go into this case deeper, he would ask them one by one, but his focus was now on Shouyo.

Shouyo almost looked dead in his hands. His skin was as pale as the bright light in the room. His soulmate mark wasn't as bright. Atsumu knew well that vampire wouldn't die from blood lost but he was still so scared.

"Atsumu, I think you need to get him out of here. There are too many cameras. And if Boss sees this…" Koutaro trailed off, and Atsumu realized just how fucked up this must look.

It wouldn't raise any questions if he stopped a poorly conducted operation. But his reaction toward this whole thing would give it away. Anyone would see just how much Atsumu cared for this vampire. Koutaro already did, judging from what he said earlier. His subordinate was trying to protect him.

Pressing his initial urge to force Shouyo to wake up right now, Atsumu nodded then picked Shouyo up. He realized that the part of this surgery ward was already cleared up. He would need to thank Koutaro later.

Atsumu never ran so fast in his life. He brought Shouyo to his private room, letting the door slammed shut on its own. By the time, he laid down the vampire on his bed, Shouyo had started to stir awake.

“Fuck, shit,” a chain of curse was starting to escape the pretty vampire’s lips.

Watching him carefully, Atsumu stayed by Shouyo’s side. Not touching, afraid that he would hurt him in some way. In all forty five years of his life, with the twenty of them spent by hating vampires, never did Atsumu actually felt grateful for vampire’s ability to heal fast.

His heart still hammered in his chest, but the bubbling relief threatened to form a grin on his lips. Shouyo’s silver eyes looked distracted for a few seconds before finally found his. The vampire looked surprised at first, but it almost instantly changed to confuse. He quickly got up into a sitting position.

“What happened?” he rasped, his voice trembled ever so slightly. “Wait, why am I in your room?”

Why, indeed. He was reminded once again by the whole mess that had been happening and he could feel rage slowly creeping back into him. “They proceed a vivisection on you without my permission. Without my order.”

Shouyo’s change of expression to elation gutted Atsumu. His vampire looked so relief he almost literally glowed. “They… You weren’t the one who ordered them?”

Atsumu’s fists tightened. He almost ordered it. But seeing his own reaction to how Shouyo was wrongly treated, almost made him kill the whole doctor team back in the surgery room. Could he honestly place the order by this point?

Atsumu could feel that he slowly lost it. His emotion was in a whirlwind, and being in a close proximity with the weak vampire wasn’t helping. He didn’t know to who he could direct his anger to.

“I hate how they did this to you.” His tone was taking on an edge, his hands trembled terribly. Shouyo was so rattled by the whole situation. After all, he was the one who was almost get killed. But Atsumu was the one who was losing control. “They almost killed you.”

“They didn't though.” Shouyo put his hand on top Atsumu's.

Atsumu closed his eyes. Once again, he let this vampire calm him down. This was the second time already. He forced himself to take a deep breath, slowly his breath evened out.

“I should’ve hated you.” He ran his hand through his hair, pulling it hard in hope to relieve his frustration. “But seeing them treating you like that made me so… angry.”

Shouyo wasn’t looking at him, but his hand stayed on top of Atsumu’s, unmoving. Atsumu thought this was the first time that they let silence take place between them. And it felt nice like this. If there wasn’t an obvious pressing matter right under their nose right now, Atsumu would love to dwell in this moment longer.

Shouyo finally casted him a glance. It was a curious one yet Atsumu could see the fondness in it. “Why do you hate our kind so much? I mean, you’re a half-vampire. Why do you hate your own kind?”

“I’m not one of you.” Atsumu intended to sound cruel, but he ended up sound defeated. "You don't know what I... was going through. I'm not a monster like the lot of you."

Shouyo opened his mouth only to close it immediately. He looked like he was trying to say the right thing. "You're right," he sighed. "I don't understand. So, please help me understand."

His answer caught Atsumu off guard. "Why should I tell you about it? You're my enemy."

"Because you want to." Shouyo gave him a look. "You know you want to talk to me."

Atsumu didn't know if this was another trick from him or not. It felt like Shouyo was just trying to fish some information out of him, but at the same time, he looked like he just wanted to help him, by listening to what he wanted to say, from what felt like centuries of secret and burden on his back.

"Why do you think I'm your enemy?" Shouyo tilted his head. "Is it... Did some vampire do something to you?"

Atsumu evinced no reaction, even when his throat began to hurt. "They attack my family." He waited for revulsion to hit him, but he found himself wanted to say more. " _Coincidentally_ , it happened during the night of my and my twin's birthday. They attacked us, feed on us one by one. I couldn't do anything, only watched them in horror while I was struggling to get up. After they were full, they _killed_ them. I was the last one they were going to kill, but a help came. It was the Institute, and they killed the vampire."

Atsumu's steely gaze studied the vampire in front of him a few heartbeats, witnessing how pale Shouyo's face had come to be after he listened to his past.

"They massacred my family," he bit out every word. "And they made me like this. A half-vampire. A half-blood sucking monster. Why do you think I hate them with my whole being?"

"Gods..." Shouyo's eyelids hung low over his eyes. Minute after minute the vampire just kept mum before him. When he looked up, there was devastation in his eyes. "I'm sorry, I should've not..." he trailed off, seemingly not knowing what to say. "I’m sorry that it happened to you. That was such a shitty thing to happen to someone.”

The story just kept rolling out of his mouth. “The tragedy had happened twenty years ago, and the only person that reached their hands to me was Rei, the man that came helped me the day my family got attacked. Since then, Rei had taken me under his protection. Keeping me safe despite me being a half-vampire, giving me the drugs that would keep down my vampire’s nature, and training me to be hunter.”

Atsumu saw how Shouyo listened to him in all seriousness. He hated how attentive the other look. How he took Atsumu’s story seriously like it mattered to him.

“Since that night,” Atsumu continued, looking away from the vampire because the look on Shouyo was making his chest tightened. “I vowed that I’ll avenge my family.”

“Like, killing all vampire in existence?”

When Atsumu looked up at Shouyo through his eye lashes, he half-thought he would find the vampire looking at him scornfully. Instead, Shouyo looked mournful.

“Yes,” Atsumu answered shortly.

Shouyo nodded, albeit he looked unsure. “I admit that you have every right to hate that vampire who killed your family and turned you into one of us, but…” he sighed. “I know you have your own prejudice toward us, with a pretty justified reason at that, but we’re just like humans, you know?”

“You think vampire is the same as human?"

“What I’m saying is, there are good and bad people. It’s just like that in our case too. We also have good and bad vampires. You can’t generalize us. Most of us feed without killing, ever.”

There was a long heavy silence in which they stared at each other. Neither of them saying a word—Shouyo was trying to give Atsumu time to understand, and Atsumu was trying his best to process what was just said to him—until Shouyo heaved a long sigh.

“Let me ask you this,” the vampire said. “If somehow, some criminals, a human, a mortal, was the one who killed your family, and destroyed your life, would you wipe out the human race too?”

Atsumu blinked. “Huh?”

“Because that’s your reason,” Shouyo stated, a matter-of-factly, but his eyes were still warm on him. “You want to wipe out our race because you have a grudge over _one_ vampire. So I asked you what would you do if it was a human who ruined your life? Will you destroy the entirety of human race, too, torture them one by one?”

Atsumu actually didn't have an answer to that. He looked down on his hand, wrapped by Shouyo's. After so long, he felt warm there. Vampire was a cold creature, but Shouyo gave him so much warmth from just a simple touch.

Atsumu's mind wandered about the question Shouyo asked. All this time, Rei had planted so much stuff into him. His prejudice, his thoughts, his ideals. That Atsumu started to think that maybe those were all planted on him on purpose, so he could be someone that Rei could control.

"I don't know," Atsumu answered weakly. "I've hated vampires for so long, I don't know how to live without wanting revenge."

"Hatred and revenge are understandable, given what happened to you. I'm sorry that you had to go through that. But I hope you realize that this…" Shouyo's fingers pointed out across every corner. "This institute is not normal. You invaded our space, capture us, torture us, and examine us. Your organization's existence is already known by our whole race. It's only a matter of time before you get ambushed."

“And now that you also disappeared, your kind is probably trying their best to find you. Since you’re one of their strongest vampires.”

“Wha—what do you mean I’m the strongest, I’m not,” Shouyo sputtered.

Atsumu watched how flush crept into Shouyo’s pale cheeks. And for the first time, probably in the past twenty years of his miserable life, Atsumu wanted to smile voluntarily, genuinely. Seeing this creature he hated so much in front of him made him feel so… light. Like his whole burden was lifted from his back. Like this was where he was supposed to be, what he was supposed to do, just sitting on the bed together and talking with his soulmate.

“You’re my soulmate, aren’t you?” The question was out from his mouth before Atsumu even realized it. He finally blurted it out, the question that had been gnawing his mind for the last three days, eating him inside. “You’re my soulmate, that’s why I feel this way toward you.”

Shouyo blinked at him. His already wide eyes got even wider, and Atsumu realized that his eyes were not only silver, but there were bits of caramel sparks in them too. His eyes were like the most beautiful stone that Atsumu had ever seen. One of a kind.

“What.. what do you feel about me?” Shouyo asked breathlessly.

“I’m crazy about you, Shouyo.”

Atsumu shook his head. He couldn't believe that he really just laid out his honesty like this. From the things about his past, to his true feelings for the vampire.

But Atsumu was tired from holding them back. Meeting Shouyo had broken the dam he had built for so long. The process was almost effortless despite how hard Atsumu tried to stop it.

Shouyo made Atsumu… feel longing.

He wanted a normal life with Shouyo. He wanted to be with him. He wanted to love him.

Did Atsumu even deserve to get those kind of happiness? Shouyo was a being with a big heart, and with that he invited Atsumu into his life. He called Shouyo a monster but Atsumu knew damn well that he was the real monster here.

“I… make you crazy? Is that a good or a bad thing?” Shouyo’s look was borderline flustered and genuinely confused, like he really didn’t know how to interpret Atsumu’s words.

How could Atsumu even think that he was capable of hurting this precious being back then?

There were decades of vengeance inside of Atsumu. He was just a mere low creature full of hatred with no goal in life other than destroying the vampire race. But right there and then, he wanted nothing but to let go. This hatred was probably not worth it. This was probably useless. It probably didn’t have any meaning. All this time, Atsumu never questioned all of these, but now, Atsumu’s mind was full of question and empty at the same time.

“Screw fate,” Atsumu whispered as he lowered his head down, resting it on Shouyo’s shoulder. His soulmate was a strong man, stronger than Atsumu, he was strong for the both of them. If Atsumu wanted to give up, somehow he knew Shouyo would hold him up.

The little vampire tensed for a few seconds before he relaxed. His back hit the wall since Atsumu put all his weight onto him.

“Why?” Shouyo asked.

“Because they only brought you to me now.”

Laughter was the instant response from the vampire. “I'm sorry that I'm late, Chief.”

“It’s Atsumu,” he corrected immediately. There was no hesitation. He just wanted to hear his name to be said by Shouyo, with his beautiful voice. “My name’s Atsumu.”

Shouyo pulled away, wanting to see his face. It was slow at first, but soon his smile grew wide until it looked like it took his entire face. A smile so bright that the sun was such a pale imitation.

“Atsumu…”

His name came out from Shouyo’s mouth with a force of someone who had not breathed for years, like Shouyo had been waiting all his long life to say the name of his soulmate. And just like Atsumu thought, his name on Shouyo’s lips might be his favorite sound of all.

Suddenly, Atsumu felt greedy. He wanted more than this. He wanted more of this man in his hold. Just when Atsumu was about to lean down to kiss him, Shouyo jerked and immediately tensed, his mouth fell open.

“Wait," the vampire blinked repeatedly, looking like a whole storm going on in his head. "Do you have a twin brother named Osamu?”

In an instant, Atsumu’s thought shut down. It felt like Shouyo just poured a bucket of cold water on his head. The mention of his twin brother’s name almost made him hurl. “How did you know?”

“No way…” Shouyo’s face paled. As he kept blinking, it was as if his brain pieces the puzzles altogether. “Your family that got massacred… Don’t tell me you know Shinsuke and Granny Yumie too.”

By this point, Atsumu’s mind started to dim, and the room spun. Slowly, he felt like his throat closed up. His mouth felt like a sandpaper.

“I saved them...twenty years ago.” Shouyo’s lips trembled. “When I passed by a house, a destroyed one, I found them on the verge of death, so I saved them by turning them into vampires. But I would never… I never thought… Are they the family you talked about?”

“Fuck, stop for a sec, Shouyo.” Atsumu grabbed his hair, frustration and confusion molded into one until he was unable to think. The ringing in his head got louder by the seconds. “You said that you found them still inside the house? But Boss said that they were gonna take care of their bodies…”

“Did you see them actually doing it?”

“They brought me to the facility immediately because I was injured and in shock.” This couldn’t be happening. Atsumu had no idea what he should be feeling here. Should he feel happy, angry, or sad? What should one do when they knew that the family they had always thought to be dead, was possibly still breathing out there. “Are you telling me that they’re still alive?”

“I’m their sire since I was the one who turned them. They’re still alive and well until now. I’m pretty sure Osamu will lead the attack to this place.” Shouyo explained, but he still looked unsure. “But wait Atsumu, this is so strange. Don’t you think the boss had something to do with this?”

“You’re thinking that Rei lied to me?”

“Did I hear someone mention me?”

Atsumu’s instinct was to immediately shield Shouyo as he turned around to find Rei by his door. The boss had his fake hand out, and Atsumu’s blood ran cold. He knew that that that fake hand had an ability to shoot a deadly silver bullet that could paralyzed any vampires. Shouyo just lost a lot of blood from the rushed operation earlier, he also hadn't fed for more than two weeks. He was weak, and Atsumu wouldn't let anything happen to his soulmate.

“Stop where you are, Rei,” Atsumu hissed, giving the old man a cold glare.

Who would’ve thought that in a span of several days, he would be in this position.

But here he was. Protecting the vampire creature that he hated, and ready to attack the person who ‘saved’ him back then.

“Stop where you are, Rei.”

Shouyo froze in his place, stuck in between a wall that pressed behind his back, and Atsumu’s hand that wrapped around him protectively. His vampire sense clamoring inside him, immediately sensing that this man who interrupted them was the enemy.

“Atsumu, son, what are you doing with that leech on your bed?”

“Shut your mouth.” Atsumu bit back. From the tremble from his back, Shouyo felt the half-vampire’s rage bubbling. “Are you the one who ordered for Shouyo’s operation behind my back?”

The man was obviously close to Atsumu. He called him _son._ Was he the boss here? The _Rei_ guy that Atsumu mentioned earlier, who was supposed to take care of Atsumu’s family. He convinced Atsumu that he had lost his family, that none of them were alive. And abandoned them inside the house, barely hanging on their last breath. Had Shouyo not passed by the house and smelled the blood, they would’ve died, just like Atsumu thought.

“I’m still the leader of this place, so I have the right to give the order.” The man, Rei, said with authority in his voice. Slowly he stepped into the room, walking closer toward them.

“But you made them go through it behind my back, so they did it carelessly. They almost killed him.”

“Why do you care?”

“Contrary to your belief, I care a fucking lot.” Atsumu probably didn’t realize it, but he squeezed Shouyo as he said it. “And let me ask you one more thing. What did you do to my family?”

Rei’s face fell for a second, but Shouyo spotted it, so did Atsumu. And that was the only confirmation that Atsumu needed.

“You…” Atsumu was appalled, then gave a harsh laugh. It was chilling. “I work under you for a whole twenty years. Twenty years, and you... You lied to me.”

“I did it in your best interest, son. All of them didn’t survive the attack, only you still held on after being bitten by the vampire. We only needed you.”

From the beginning, Shouyo could feel that there was something amiss. The fact that the so-called reinforcement came in the right time, as if they had been waiting, watching it unfold. And the fact that they just left the scene as soon as they got what they wanted, in this case, Atsumu’s turning into half-vampire. And the fact that they were an organization that hunted vampires, and they needed someone as strong as the vampire, at least one, to be on their side. And they just kept on fueling Atsumu with anger, rage, vengeance for years and years so Atsumu would be loyal to them.

The thought made him shudder, but this could be the explanation for this absurd situation.

“Did you plan the attack on Atsumu’s family?” Shouyo asked with a whisper.

Rei was too shocked to come up with an excuse. It was the kind of silence that rang so loud, but it was loud enough to permanently sever the last bit of trust that Atsumu had for someone he regarded as his savior all these years.

“I’ll rip your fucking head off, Rei.” Atsumu snarled as he stepped forward. Shouyo met Atsumu’s wild gaze. “Get away from here, Shouyo.”

Shouyo couldn’t imagine his bewilderment. All this jumbled of information must’ve been too much for the halfling. The betrayal, the anger, the sadness he felt all at once.

Atsumu didn’t wait. He struck head on. He might not have a weapon, but as a half-vampire he was strong enough to kill him bare handed. The human leader was thrown into the wall across the room, but he was still standing, albeit swaying a little bit. After all, Atsumu made sure that he hit his head.

“Koutaro, get Shouyo away from here. Get him out from this facility,” Atsumu said to the man that Shouyo assumed to be Koutaro, who just staggered into the room, looking stupefy by the sudden commotion and the weird tension between the boss and half-vampire.

“Atsumu.” Shouyo got down from the bed. His hand reached out for his soulmate. “I don’t want you to be alone with this bastard.”

“I’ll come to you, Shouyo.” Atsumu chucked him under his chin. “I promise. I just need to deal with this alone. He has a weapon that can immobilize you. I need you to be far from his reach.”

“But-”

“Please, _please,_ I need you to be safe.” Like he was pleading. Like he was saying to whoever Gods above, _just for this once, please, don’t take anything away from me_.

It wasn’t that Shouyo didn’t understand him, but he still had the right to be pissed with this situation, with Atsumu’s situation. This was unfair, and he was angry for his soulmate. But at the same time, he didn’t want to hinder him. Having Shouyo there probably would distract him because Atsumu would always have the need to protect him. So Shouyo let grip loosened.

“If you don’t come to me, I’m gonna be really mad, you know?” he threatened with shaking voice.

Atsumu kissed his temple, and Shouyo lost his breath momentarily. “We won’t be part for long. I vow it.”

That was all Shouyo needed. He was an immortal, he would wait for Atsumu for as long as he lived.

With that he dashed toward the door, where Koutaro was prepared to lead him out of here.

Shouyo didn’t take one last glance because he knew, it would only make it harder for him to leave his soulmate behind. But Koutaro who was now running beside him, assured him.

“Don’t worry. Chief will be fine. He took you down, remember?”

Shouyo did. Which was the only reason he left Atsumu to handle it alone. So he nodded, and said “Thank y—”

The first thing Shouyo felt was the ground quaking, then the walls around them shaking violently, then the ear-splitting sound, then lastly the shattering of everything.

An explosion.

Shouyo was almost thrown back by the sheer force of the explosion alone, but he stood his ground, bending down to cover his eyes and nose from all the debris.

“Koutaro!” he yelled, trying to find the one who was supposed to lead him out, but the air was too murky. “Are you okay?”

There was a groan. “Yeah, I’m fine.” Then Shouyo saw a figure approaching him. The vampire hunter looked like a mess, which meant Shouyo was probably the same. “Are you okay, Shouyo? Atsumu will kill me if you were hurt.”

“Worry about yourself. Can you run?”

Koutaro nodded, then without hesitation, he started running again. “What the hell was that? A bomb?”

“Do you guys have an experiment here?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Then this was probably an attack.” Could it be his race? Trying to save Shouyo and the others?

The facility was in chaos. Everything got destroyed, walls collapsed, and some of the humans were injured. Shouyo could smell blood from every corner but he kept his head ahead.

Not long until finally Koutaro stopped in front of some hole that Shouyo assumed that it was where the exit door was supposed to be. From here, he could see the outside world, it was nighttime and they were in the middle of what seemed to be a jungle.

“Here we are,” Koutaro sighed in relief. “Let’s go.”

“Before you get me out, I need to get Kakeru, my cellmate.”

“What? But—” Koutaro trailed off, as if thinking this through. He probably realized that arguing with Shouyo would be in vain, and would only take them longer to escape. “The jail was at that direction. Make it fast, I’ll wait right here.”

Shouyo began to run again. He kept running and running, not caring about the chaos around him and all these humans panicking, cluttering around. He just needed to get out of here with Kakeru.

When Shouyo got to the jail area of the building, it was already destroyed, the debris on the floor, and white, thick dust in the air. He practically couldn't see anything.

Could it be it was his race who destroyed all of this—

It was pure instinct that prevented Shouyo from meeting the blade head on. With his visibility decreased until only one meter radius, he didn't get to see the two figures heading directly at him with their blades swung toward him. But now when they were close enough, Shouyo could see them.

“Tobio? Osamu?”

Shouyo was overwhelmed by relief while two of his vampire best friends stopped their swings.

“Shouyo!” Osamu ran to him, somehow looking haggard from all the explosion. “Thank goodness you’re okay.”

“Is it just the two of you?” Shouyo asked.

“You think we can destroy the whole building by ourselves?” Tobio snarked. “We have Shinsuke and Kiyoomi too, attacking the exit and entrance door. Kei and Tetsurou attacking the west wing where all the research areas were located. We’re in charge to make an exit in the jail area because we want to rescue you, but we found you nowhere.” Tobio drew closer to them, panting with panicked expression adorning his youthful face, despite being slightly older than Shouyo, he was roughly two hundred years old. “We need to go. The building won’t last for long,” he said.

“The construction definitely wasn’t made to hold a bit of explosion. What a shit facility,” Osamu commented. “Let’s get out of here.”

“No, I need to make sure my cellmate had escaped. He’s just a kid, we need to save him.”

“Shit,” Osamu muttered, looking back to the smoke-filled jail. “He probably already escaped. We destroy all the bars so all of them can run away.”

“Did you check all the cells? Make sure that none of them are injured and can escape?”

Osamu didn’t reply. And Shouyo immediately ran ahead, leaving his friends behind. He couldn’t afford wasting anymore time, because he might or might not tell his friends that after he saved Kakeru, he still needed to run back to where Atsumu was and made sure that that goddamn soulmate of his would also get to go out of this sorry-ass of a building.

Shouyo wouldn’t leave this place without Atsumu.

Atsumu….

Wait. Shit.

“Osamu!” Shouyo turned to face his friend, a little bit breathless, because how could he forget about this? Osamu turned to him. Now that Shouyo saw Osamu, he thought that yes, they were brothers, they were practically the same, yet so different. “Atsumu, your twin brother is here. He ran this facility, and he’s my soulmate.”

With that, Shouyo proceeded to run again. No time for dilly-dallying. The last thing he heard before he took a turn by the end of the corridor was Osamu’s dumbfounded yell.

“He what?!”

Atsumu garnered enough strength to pin Rei to the wall. The human was still smirking at him despite being the one who got the short end of the stick in his current situation.

“I hope you have fun laughing behind my back for the past twenty years,” Atsumu said coldly. “You dare to plan an attack on my family, tested out which one of us could survive, kidnapped me, leaving them behind to die, and lied to my face the whole time.”

“My plan was going so well, but that special vampire ruined it all,” Rei scoffed. “I was a day to late, it seems.”

“You ordered a vivisection on him because you realized that he’s my soulmate.” Atsumu realized, and everything suddenly became so funny. Like his whole life was a comedy. “I can’t believe that I fell into your trap. I gave up my life for you.”

“You should be grateful to me, son. I made you immortal. I made you meet your soulmate. Look at how amazing your life will be from now on.”

“With my family as the price? You’re crazy, Rei. You’re a psycho.”

“I guess I was wrong about you, Atsumu. I thought all this time if you knew the truth you’ll feel pleased to know that I chose your family to be part of this experiment. We watched you and your brothers carefully, and we can see how special you are. After we claimed you as one of us, I waited for twenty years, waiting until you’re ready, until you’re just as strong as full-blooded vampire. We made a great team, son. I can get a revenge for vampire race that made me lose my hand, and you for your family.”

“Except the attack on my family was planned by you. I’m sorry that you got attacked by a vampire back then, but you ruined my and dozens of vampires’ life with your crap. Use the remaining sanity of yours to see just how ridiculous this is, Rei!”

Atsumu was dumbfounded. This man, this disgusting human being, had the audacity to think that he had done Atsumu a favor. Like he should be thankful to him, touched by his intention.

_There are good and bad people. It’s just like that in our case too. We also have good and bad vampires. You can’t generalize us._

His soulmate’s words rang in his ears. Atsumu chuckled under his breath. All this time, he thought that he was the good guy, punishing the bad guys. While in fact, _he_ was the one who was had his head too deep in his ass. He had tortured and injured a lot of vampires. He had tortured _his own soulmate_ , for God’s sake.

Spending the rest of his life to gain Shouyo’s and the vampire’s race trust was what he would do to redeem himself.

“Just so you know, Rei,” Atsumu bit out. “You can think whatever you want. That you’re a hero, a savior, a saint, what have you. But you're just lower than a piece of shit. I would love to kill you right now, but I’ll let the vampire race do the honor. They deserve that much. I’ll make sure that your death will be a thousand times more painful than—”

The bang from the explosion made Atsumus’s ears rang. The walls that he used to pin down Rei suddenly collapsed, taking the both of them to fall under the wreck.

Atsumu didn’t release his hold on Rei even though he could barely see and move. Rei was unconscious, his head bleeding and his eyeballs rolled back. But as the situation dawn on him, Atsumu began to panic.

_Shouyo._

He cursed and got up, removing all the rubbles on top of him. He needed to get to Shouyo and made sure that he was okay. His soulmate was a vampire, a wound from explosion wouldn’t hurt him. Also, Koutaro was with him, so he shouldn’t be worried. But when it came to Shouyo, reasons flew out of the window.

The only thing in his mind right now was to get to Shouyo no matter what.

Atsumu made sure that Rei was still unconscious. The stream of blood from his head and his shallow breathing assured him to let go. He got up from his position and discarded all the thought of revenge and vengeance for the man for the time being.

By the time he ran through corridors, he realized the situation was worse than he thought. The facility was basically destroyed, and he could see the humans working here tried to escape. He knew he need to prevent them from leaving the building, but that could wait. That just meant that he had to find Shouyo as soon as possible.

He hoped to find Shouyo by the exit door, but when he saw Koutaro there without Shouyo, dread crept into him. Four men wearing all black were with his subordinate instead, crammed him into the corner. Based on their attire… _are they vampire? They did this?_

His first impulse was to save Koutaro, by explaining to the vampires that they meant no harm. But the closer he got to them, as he could see more clearly the vampires surrounding his subordinate, Atsumu felt like the guilt that he bore for so long escaped him.

“‘Samu?” he whispered. His feet had stopped moving. “Shinsuke?”

The two faces that Atsumu longed so much for the past twenty years, turned to him. Their now-silver eyes widened as they saw Atsumu.

None of them said anything other than Koutaro who stepped forward. “Chief, these people were asking for you. They said Shouyo told them about you.” He stopped, then gaped. “Oh my God, you two really are twins.”

Osamu. His twin. The brother he thought he lost forever was here in front of him, breathing.

“‘Tsumu…” Osamu finally broke out from his shock. “You’re really alive?”

“ _You_ are alive? You too, Shinsuke?” Atsumu closed the gap between them, and his brothers met him in the middle. The moment they wrapped their hands around each other, Atsumu breathed a little bit easier.

“We thought you were dead. We never found your body,” Shinsuke muttered as he held Atsumu tighter. He sounded so close to crying.

“What the hell…” Osamu trailed off. “What the hell is happening? Why are you here? Shouyo said that you were some kind of a chief here. And, God, you’re his soulmate?”

The peaceful moment broke. Atsumu immediately pulled away from his brothers. “Where’s Shouyo?” he asked, remembering that he couldn’t find the short vampire just now among them. “Where is he?”

“Hey, ‘Tsumu, calm down. He’s in the jail area, looking for his friend,” Osamu said, a bit taken aback by his twin’s sudden change of emotion.

“You leave him alone?” Atsumu then looked at Koutaro. “Is he injured?”

Koutaro shook his head. “He’s fine.”

“I still need to find him. He can’t be alone. There’s still many people here targeting him.”

“Wow, he’s really your soulmate,” Osamu said in honest wonder. “Better get our sire back here safely, ‘Tsumu.”

Atsumu smiled at that, his nervousness dissipated. “Got it, ‘Samu. See you soon.”

“Stay alive.” Both Osamu and Shinsuke said as Atsumu headed toward the jail area.

Everything started to fell back into place. He just needed to find his little soulmate, caught Rei, got out from here, and hopefully, start a new life with his family and new-found soulmate. He had done a number of pretty shitty things, but he wished that the Gods and Goddesses above still gave him a chance to obtain happiness.

Atsumu ran as fast as his feet could take him. He willed his half-vampire strength to give him the push.

When he got to the jail area, it was already empty. There was a hole in the middle of it, so he figured that all the inmates had saved themselves. Now he just needed to find his soulmate.

“Shouyo.” He called for his name, hoping that vampire’s hearing sense would help him here.

“Atsumu?”

The voice that Atsumu so desperately yearned came from the cell which he could see was Shouyo’s old cell. He wasted no time. The need to see his soulmate was stronger than anything.

He shuddered out the heaviest sigh of relief when he saw Shouyo was squatting down beside a young vampire, Kakeru.

“Shouyo,” he breathed out, and let his feet dragging him toward the source of his light in life. When he finally touched him again, it felt like he was whole again. “Thank God.”

“You’re here,” Shouyo clung to him.

“I’m here.” Atsumu nodded, just like he promised. “Do you need help here?”

Atsumu wanted to be in Shouyo’s arms longer, but knew that they didn’t have much time. The building would soon collapse, and he also needed to get to Rei again. So he pulled away.

“No.” Shouyo turned to Kakeru. “Kakeru was just here waiting because he didn’t want to leave without me. Let’s go, Kakeru.”

The poor kid, who looked really terrified because of the sudden appearance of Atsumu, nodded. When they finally got up from the dirty floor, and out from the cell, Atsumu reached for Shouyo’s hand.

“You go to where my brothers and Koutaro are, they’re in the exit door waiting for you. I need to go back to get Rei. I’ll use the shortcut to my room from the back.”

Shouyo’s face looked crestfallen, realizing that Atsumu would go to a different direction from here. “No, please wait for me. I’ll get Kakeru to Osamu, and I’ll come with you.”

“We don’t have time for a detour. You go out first while I catch that bastard. I’ll be out soon too.”

Shouyo didn’t look convinced. His dirty face donning an adorable crease on his eyebrows and a little pout on his lips. And that was Atsumu’s cue.

He leaned in and pressed his lips to the vampire’s cold, yet soft lips, clutching his waist to deepen the kiss. For a while, Atsumu forgot about all the shits happening around them, melting from the sheer happiness that coming from who Atsumu was sure was the love of his life.

When he pulled back, Atsumu got to witness the adorableness that was Shouyo’s red cheeks and glistened silvery eyes. Kakeru was standing a few meters away from them, looking away.

“I’ll always come back to you,” Atsumu whispered. “Don’t worry.”

“Of course I’ll be worried.” Shouyo pouted. His lips begging to be kissed again. “You’re my soulmate. Literally the half of me. My _literal_ half.”

“You understand my need to keep you safe, then.”

“Then let me keep you safe, too.”

“You remember that I took you down back then, right? I technically stronger than you.”

“Shut up. You’re much younger than me.”

“Awh, you can’t say anything about your strength, so you talk about your age. You’re ador—”

Shouyo’s eyes widened. “ATSUMU!”

Atsumu heard the wet sound of steel through flesh first before he felt it. On instinct, he threw Shouyo away from harm’s way, but it was too late for him. When he looked down, he could see a piece of metal pierce through the center of his chest. Then he moved his gaze to Shouyo, as he fell to his side.

He remembered what kind of metal that was. It was Rei’s special silver spear.

His soulmate crawled toward him, crying, bawling. Within the chaos and all the pain, Atsumu looked up to see Rei looking down at him with a smirk on his face, still holding the silver spear, then Atsumu saw someone—Kakeru leaped to tackle the human.

He felt like dying, but he smiled nonetheless, because Shouyo would be proud to see his favorite young vampire, was brave enough to attack the leader of the vampire hunter.

If only Shouyo wasn’t too busy crying.

“You stupid idiot, stupid fucking idiot,” Shouyo muttered as tears ran down his cheeks. “Stupid, stupid, stupid.”

“Are you hurt?” Atsumu reached to wipe away Shouyo’s tears, only to make his cheek smeared with his blood. “The metal didn’t touch you, right?”

“Don’t talk.” Shouyo was hysterical. “I need to get you out of here. Oh, gosh.”

Atsumu’s body started to grow limp. “You know that I can’t die because of this, right?”

“I said don’t talk,” Shouyo sobbed as he tried to pick Atsumu up. But it was probably because of his lack of blood, or his panicking, he couldn’t do it. “Kakeru, please h-help. Don’t die, Atsumu. Don’t you dare die.”

Kakeru’s face came into his sight. The kids must’ve had handled the old man.

His body got picked up to Kakeru’s back. The feeling of his blood seeped into the kid’s scrub was the last thing Atsumu felt before all his senses shut down.

“Maybe because he’s half vampire, he won’t survive? Half-vampires don’t drink blood, after all.”

“Shut up, Tobio. My brother will survive. Full vampire or half-vampire, doesn’t matter. He’s an immortal.”

“Now, now, Osamu, don’t be so loud. Atsumu is healing.”

“I’m sorry, Grandma Yumie. But I’m just on edge, and Tobio is not helping.”

“Uhh… I’m sorry?”

“You don’t have to be sorry, Tobio.”

“Shinsuke, you’re supposed to be on my side, not him.”

Atsumu was aware that he was unconscious. But this was the first time that he could hear sounds or voices around him after days just lying down, healing.

Slowly, he opened his eyes. And the sight before him was something that Atsumu could only describe as a dream, but at the same time he was aware that this was real.

Osamu, Shinsuke, and Granny Yumie were by the side of his bed.

He heard a gasp. “‘Tsumu, you’re awake?”

_Where am I? Where is Shouyo?_

Atsumu slowly sat up. His chest still hurt but he could manage.

“Easy, Atsumu. You’re in a safe place now. Shouyo is safe too. This is Shouyo’s mansion,” Granny Yumie said, as if she could understand what he was thinking. “Welcome home, sweetheart.”

Atsumu almost leaped to hug his sweet granny, but he was hugged by his brothers, instead. It felt like they were never gone at all. Their embrace was still the same, their warmth comforted him all the same. His heart was broken into pieces, but their heartbeats against his mended him.

When they finally released him, Atsumu had an urgent thing to ask. “What happened to the facility?”

“Rei was killed by that young vampire, Kakeru. That boy had a bright future. We also had handled the other staff, telling the authority that they engaged on illegal research. We released your friend, Koutaro, though. He sent a message that you have to visit him once you’re better,” Shinsuke explained to him.

“Are you stupid, ‘Tsumu? How can you be hurt by a mere human?” Osamu ruffled his hair.

“Remember that he was distracted, Osamu,” Shinsuke threw him a knowing smile.

Atsumu closed his eyes, and thought that, ah, this was it. The things he missed the most. Just him with his family, like the old time. But even now, he could feel the missing puzzle. His soulmate. He needed Shouyo here to complete him.

“Where’s Shouyo?” he looked around, and figured that he was probably in Shouyo’s room, judging from all the smell and the familiar feelings he felt.

The unfamiliar raven head, someone who looked a lot like Kakeru, answered him. “He’s outside. Shooing away some of our people who want revenge against you.”

“What?”

“Seems like you did some outrageous things inside the Institute to our kind, huh? You’re such a troublemaker, ‘Tsumu. Just like always.”

“COME AT ME IF YOU DARE!” Shouyo screamed from outside.

Eyes wide, Atsumu shoved away his brothers and got down from the bed. The house was unfamiliar to him, but he followed Shouyo’s voice to find the front door.

He stormed out of the front door, and was directly welcomed by the sight of his soulmate, daringly standing in front of a group of vampire, who were trying to destroy the fences.

“Shouyo!”

The orange haired vampire turned around. His eyes wide from surprise, but as soon as they landed on Atsumu, they turned into the most beautiful crescents.

“Atsumu!” Shouyo ran toward him, and Atsumu gladly caught his little, strong soulmate. “You’re awake!”

Atsumu picked Shouyo up, so he could lock his legs around Atsumu’s hip. Then he buried his face on his unruly hair. “I told you I won’t die because of it, right?”

“But I was so scared.” Shouyo pulled away, pouting. “I’m still mad at you, by the way, but I’m glad you’re okay.”

“You can be mad at me all you want. I deserve it after what I did to you.” Atsumu’s head cocked toward the fence. “Seems like I need to apologize to them, too, huh?”

“Don’t mind them. Didn’t you know that your soulmate has a golden-tongue that can melt anyone’s heart. I can just talk to some of my friends to become our allies, and then anyone that want to go against you, can go through us. I’m really strong, remember?”

“Sure you do.” Atsumu pecked him on the lips, not caring about the vampires behind the gate. He carried Shouyo toward the house, at least out from the others’ sight. He stopped right at the porch as he started again. “But this is my problem. This is all my fault. I can’t depend on you or the others to clean up my shit.”

Shouyo wrapped his arms Atsumu’s neck, his face inching closer. “Okay, but I want you to know that I’ll always be beside you. I’ll help you gain their heart. And if they won’t forgive you, fuck them.”

Atsumu pretended to nod seriously. “Uh-huh, fuck them.”

“You’re totally not taking me seriously,” Shouyo whined, his legs flailing around.

Atsumu’s heart was too full to not smiling at his soulmate’s antics. His life had been nothing but misery for the past two decades, but Shouyo came to his life, full of love despite their unusual circumstances. And Atsumu was glad that his heart had guided him to Shouyo.

With a kick, Atsumu opened the front door, and got them inside the house. He knew that the others were hiding inside the room, so they had the whole living room for their own. He didn’t want to, but he had to put down Shouyo since he needed both his arms free to cup his soulmate’s face.

“Shouyo,” Atsumu said, his heart started hammering. “Your soulmate is a criminal with hundreds of sins to be atoned. I have no friends, and I’m scarred inside and out. But I’m still asking for you anyway.” He brushed the back of his calloused fingers along Shouyo’s soft cheek. Then through Shouyo's shirt, he saw the gold soulmate mark of his, and his heart soared. “I love you. Can you accept me?”

Shouyo was smiling, but his eyes were sparkling with tears. “Of course. And I love you too.”

His beautiful soulmate once again wrapped his arms around Atsumu’s neck, bringing him down as he tiptoed for a kiss.

And finally, all of Atsumu’s puzzles completed.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading it till the end! Kudos and comments are appreciated :)


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